Atlas-based production of a medical support device

Abstract

A system and method of producing a medical support device is disclosed. The disclosure determining a three-dimensional shape of the medical support device for supporting an anatomical body part of a patient, the method executed by a computer and including acquiring body part geometry data describing a geometry of the anatomical body part; acquiring medical procedure data describing a medical procedure to be carried out on the patient; acquiring atlas data describing a general three-dimensional shape of the anatomical body part; determining, based on the body part geometry data and the medical procedure data and the atlas data, support device geometry data describing the geometry of the support device. The method and system further includes generative forming of the device by issuing at least one control command to the generative forming device for forming the medical support device based on the support device geometry data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of determining a three-dimensional shape of a medical support device for supporting an anatomical body part, the method comprising executing, by at least one processor of at least one computer, steps of: acquiring, at the at least one processor, body part geometry data describing a geometry of the anatomical body part; acquiring, at the at least one processor, medical procedure data describing a medical procedure to be carried out on the patient; acquiring, at the at least one processor, atlas data describing a general three-dimensional shape of the anatomical body part; and determining, by the at least one processor and based on the body part geometry data and the medical procedure data and from the atlas data, support device geometry data describing the geometry of the medical support device; wherein there is a form fit between the geometry of the medical support device and the anatomical body part with the medical support device distributing a weight of the anatomical body part of a patient.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the body part geometry data is acquired from or comprises medical image data describing the anatomical body part; and wherein determining the support device geometry data comprises: comparing, by the at least one processor, the medical image data to the atlas data to determine the position of an anatomical structure in a description by a body atlas described by the atlas data; determining, by the at least one processor, the support device geometry data based on the position of the anatomical structure in the body atlas.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the medical procedure data describes the position of an anatomical target region or an access path associated with the medical procedure.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the at least one processor and based on the atlas data, support positions of the anatomical body part.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the atlas data comprises tissue information describing properties of the tissue of the anatomical body part, and the support positions are determined, by the at least one processor, based on the tissue information.

6. The method according to claim 1, comprising: acquiring, at the at least one processor, initial geometry data describing an initial geometry of material for producing the medical support device; wherein the support device geometry data is determined, by the at least one processor, based on the initial geometry data.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the support device geometry data is determined, by the at least one processor, by subtracting a dataset describing a shaped volume of material from the initial geometry data.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising: acquiring, at the at least one processor, accessory data comprising information about the geometry of a medical accessory; wherein the support device geometry data is determined, by the at least one processor, based on the accessory data.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the medical accessory is at least one of a drain part for draining a liquid, an instrument support for supporting a medical instrument, a hand rest for a user's hand, the user not being identical to the patient, a fixation unit for fixing the medical support device to a patient bed, a mounting interface for mounting the medical support device to the patient, and a marking having a predetermined spatial relationship to the anatomical body part and/or being a marker device for detection by navigation system; and wherein the support device geometry data contains information which describes that the medical accessory is formed integrally with the support device.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the support device geometry data is determined, by the at least one processor, in a digital format that makes the support device geometry data suitable as input data for a generative manufacturing process.

11. The method of claim 1 further including storing the support device geometry data on a computer readable medium for transfer to a generative forming device.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising producing the medical support device based on the support device geometry data.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) In the following, an example embodiment of the inventive method will be described with reference to the figure, wherein the invention shall not be limited to the features described in connection with the figures, and wherein

(2) FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the inventive method in which both atlas data and medical image data serve as a basis for determining the geometry of the support device; and

(3) FIG. 2 is an illustration of an exemplary support device embodied by a head rest.

(4) As shown in FIG. 1, step S1.1 encompasses acquiring the initial geometry data describing an initial geometry embodied by a base block design of the material from which the support device is to be produced. Step S1.2 encompasses detecting the anatomy of the anatomical body part in pre-operative CT or MRI scans and thus relates to acquiring the aforementioned anatomical body part geometry data embodied by medical image data. Step S1.3 encompasses acquiring the aforementioned medical procedure data in order to plan a surgical access path and the orientation of the anatomical body part. Step S1.4 encompasses acquiring a suitable atlas and therefore encompasses the step of acquiring the atlas data based on in particular the medical image data acquired in step S1.2.

(5) Step S2.1 encompasses determining the support device geometry data by subtracting, from the base block of material, the patient's anatomy determined from the atlas and advantageously also the pre-operative scans. The anatomy is subtracted from the base block preferably in the correct orientation for the envisaged medical procedure, in particular for a surgical approach, with an additional margin (which considers padding and draping of the situs). In step S2.2, the atlas data is used as an additional basis for identifying the positions of sensitive organs from the atlas matching the anatomical body part. On this basis, step S3 continues with subtracting material from the base block design (i.e. the initial geometry) in the vicinity of sensitive organs so as to leave the sensitive organs (for example the ears, the eyes, the nose or the mouth of the patient) uncovered by the support device.

(6) Purely optional step S4 contains a step of subtracting access material from the base block design until a minimum thickness of the support structure is reached to reduce the weight of the support structure and allow a flux of liquids and great ducts for e.g. cables or other medical equipment (in particular medical instruments). Thus step S4 includes the step of acquiring accessory data.

(7) Step S5 then continues with determining the support device geometry data based on the accessory data by for example adding additional elements to the support device such as mounting posts for medical accessories, fixation equipment, hand rests and/or markings as medical accessory.

(8) FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the support device being a head rest 1 for a patient's head 2 which is an embodiment of the aforementioned anatomical body part. The head rest 1 comprises supports 4 which are positioned at disjunct support positions and comprise support surfaces 5 which are adapted to the geometry of the exterior surface of the patient's head 2. The support positions have been determined such that the patient's right ear 3 embodying a sensitive organ is not covered by a part of the head rest 1 so as to avoid discomfort for the patient. The head rest 1 has been produced as one integral part by one of the aforementioned generative manufacturing processes.