Imaging diagnosis apparatus having needling navigation control system and a needling navigation controlling method

Abstract

An ultrasound imaging diagnosis apparatus and a method for supporting safe and exact puncturing operation into a target region in a living body of a patient are provided. In the ultrasound imaging diagnosis apparatus, a regions setting unit sets a target tumor region for puncturing and blood vessel regions and organ region that are located near the tumor region based on the volume data acquired by 3-D scans on the object. To avoid insertions into the blood vessel regions and organ region, a puncturing needle position detecting unit detects the tip position and the inserting direction of the puncturing needle at just before and during insertion into the object. An expected inserting position calculating unit calculates an expected inserting position and an insertion error region to the tumor region based on the tip position data, inserting direction data and characteristic data of the puncturing needle. A puncturing navigation data generating unit generates a puncturing navigation data by composing the tumor region data, the organ region and blood vessel regions data, and the data relating to the expected inserting position and the insertion error region.

1 . An imaging diagnosis apparatus comprising:
 a volume data acquiring unit configured to acquire volume data from a volume (3-D) scan region on an object;   a puncturing needle position detecting unit configured to detect a position of a puncturing needle inserted in a body of the object;   a puncturing navigation data generating unit configured to generate puncturing navigation data in order to display an anatomic feature in the body that is located in an inserting direction of the puncturing needle based on the detected position of the puncturing needle; and   a display unit configured to display the puncturing navigation data.   
   
   
       2 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a region setting unit configured to set a target tumor region and at least either one of blood vessel regions or an organ region located near the target tumor region in the object based on the volume data,
 wherein the puncturing navigation data generates the puncturing navigation data for displaying anatomic features in body of the object based on tumor region data and at least one of either the blood vessel regions or the organ region.   
   
   
       3 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the puncturing navigation data generating unit generates the puncturing navigation data by performing a rendering process or a projection process of blood vessel regions data or organ region data along an inserting direction of the puncturing needle as an eye direction. 
   
   
       4 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising an expected inserting position calculating unit configured to calculate an expected inserting position to the tumor region based on a position of the puncturing needle,
 wherein the puncturing navigation data generating unit generates the puncturing navigation data based on the expected inserting position.   
   
   
       5 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the puncturing needle position detecting unit detects a tip position of the puncturing needle, and
 the puncturing navigation data generating unit generates the puncturing navigation data for displaying anatomic features of the body located along the inserting direction of the puncturing needle based on the detected tip position of the puncturing needle.   
   
   
       6 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the puncturing navigation data generating unit generates the puncturing navigation data between the tumor region and a body surface of the object based on either one of the blood vessel regions or the organ region that are located between the tip position of the puncturing needle and the tumor region, tumor region data, and expected inserting position data. 
   
   
       7 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , further comprising an outline setting unit configured to set outline data of the inspection/treated area on a generated one or a plurality of MPR image data; and
 a region setting unit configured to set the tumor region based on the outline data set by the outline setting unit.   
   
   
       8 . The ultrasound imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the region setting unit sets the 3-D tumor region approximated by a sphere or a rotation ellipse body based on the outline data set by the outline setting unit on the MPR image data. 
   
   
       9 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 7 , further comprising
 an MPR plane setting unit configured to MPR planes to the volume data; and   an MPR image data generating unit configured to generates MPR image data based on the voxels of the volume data corresponded to the MPR planes set by the MPR plane setting unit.   
   
   
       10 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the puncturing navigation data generating unit generates the puncturing navigation data by overlapping expected inserting position data on the tumor region and either the blood vessel regions or the organ region and performing a rendering process or a projection process along the inserting direction of the puncturing needle as an eye direction. 
   
   
       11 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the expected inserting position calculation unit further calculates an insertion error region indicating an error scope of the expected inserting position based on a tip position and an inserting direction of the puncturing needle, material data of the puncturing needle or body anatomy data of the object; and
 the puncturing navigation data generating unit generates the puncturing navigation data based on either blood vessel region data or organ region data, tumor region data, the expected inserting position data and insertion error region data.   
   
   
       12 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , further comprising a warning unit configured to issue warning signals of a dangerous insertion of the puncturing needle when the insertion error region in the puncturing navigation data overlaps or contacts on or to either a blood vessel region or an organ region in the puncturing navigation data. 
   
   
       13 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the display unit displays either blood vessel regions or an organ region with different colors or brightness corresponding to distances from a body surface of the object. 
   
   
       14 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the display unit displays a tumor region, blood vessel regions and an organ region with different colors or brightness. 
   
   
       15 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the display unit displays an expected inserting position or an adjacent position thereof with blinks when the tip position of the puncturing needle reaches the tumor region. 
   
   
       16 . The imaging diagnosis apparatus according to  claim 5 , further comprising an eye direction setting unit configured to set a desired eye direction; and
 a 3-D data generating unit configured to generate 3-D data of a tumor region, one of a blood vessel region and an organ region, and the inserting direction of the puncturing needle based on the desired eye direction set by the eye direction setting unit.   
   
   
       17 . An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus comprising:
 a volume data acquiring unit configured to acquire volume data from a volume (3-D) scan region on an object;   a puncturing needle position detecting unit configured to detect a position of a puncturing needle inserted in a body of the object;   a puncturing navigation data generating unit configured to generate puncturing navigation data in order to display an anatomic feature of the body that is located in an inserting direction of the puncturing needle based on the detected position of the puncturing needle; and   a display unit configured to display the puncturing navigation data.   
   
   
       18 . A needling navigation controlling method for an imaging diagnosis apparatus comprising:
 acquiring volume data from a volume (3-D) scan region on an object;   detecting a position of a puncturing needle inserted in a body of the object;   generating puncturing navigation data in order to display an anatomic feature of the body that is located in an inserting direction of the puncturing needle based on the detected position of the puncturing needle; and   displaying the puncturing navigation data.