Method and system for fluorescent imaging with background surgical image composed of selective illumination spectra

Abstract

A surgical site is simultaneously illuminated by less than all the visible color components that make up visible white light, and a fluorescence excitation illumination component by an illuminator in a minimally invasive surgical system. An image capture system acquires an image for each of the visible color components illuminating the surgical site and a fluorescence image, which is excited by the fluorescence excitation component from the illuminator. The minimally invasive surgical system uses the acquired images to generate a background black and white image of the surgical site. The acquired fluorescence image is superimposed on the background black and white image, and is highlighted in a selected color, e.g., green. The background black and white image with the superimposed highlighted fluorescence image is displayed for a user of the system. The highlighted fluorescence image identifies tissue of clinical interest.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A minimally invasive surgical system comprising:
 (i) a camera wherein the camera captures a first acquired component image, and a second acquired component image different from the first acquired component image;   (ii) a controller, connected to the camera,
 wherein the controller generates a first visible color component of a limited bandwidth image including the first acquired component image; 
 wherein the controller generates a second visible color component of the limited bandwidth image including the first acquired component image, and adds the second acquired component image to the second visible color component of the limited bandwidth image so that the second visible color component of the limited bandwidth image includes both the first acquired component image and the second acquired component image; 
 wherein the controller generates a third visible color component of the limited bandwidth image including the first acquired component image; and 
 further wherein the limited bandwidth image does not include an acquired visible color component image resulting from one visible color component of white light; and 
   (iii) a display, connected to the controller to receive the first, second and third components of the limited bandwidth image, wherein the display shows an image including the limited bandwidth image, and wherein a portion of the image including the second acquired component image is highlighted relative to portions of the image not including the second acquired component image.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an illuminator, wherein the illuminator simultaneously provides at least two illumination components, wherein when one of the illumination components is a fluorescence excitation illumination component, other illumination components include less than all visible color components of white light.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the other illumination components includes a first visible color illumination component; and   wherein the first acquired component image is an acquired first visible color component image; and the second acquired component image is a fluorescence image excited by the fluorescence excitation illumination component.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the other illumination components include the first visible color illumination component and a second visible color illumination component. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the camera captures a third acquired component image, wherein the first acquired component image is an acquired first visible color component image; the second acquired component image is an acquired fluorescence image; and the third acquired component image is an acquired second visible color component image. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 ,
 wherein the controller generates the first, second, and third color components of the limited bandwidth image from the acquired first and second visible color component images;   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the first visible color component is a blue color component, and the second visible color component is a green color component. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the second color component of the limited band width image is a green color component. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the other illumination components are a first visible illumination component and a second fluorescence excitation illumination component. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the camera captures a third acquired component image, wherein the first acquired component is an acquired first visible color component image; the second acquired component image is an acquired first fluorescence image; and the third acquired component image is an acquired second fluorescence image. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 ,
 wherein the controller adds the third acquired image to the third visible color component of the limited bandwidth image.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the illuminator includes:
 a first visible color illumination component source;   a second visible color illumination component source wherein the second visible color illumination component is different from the first visible color illumination component;   a third visible color illumination component source, wherein the third visible color illumination component is different from the second visible color illumination component, and different from the first visible color illumination component; and   a fluorescence excitation illumination source; and   further wherein the system comprises:
 a power level and power supply controller connected to the first, second, and third visible color component illumination sources, and to the fluorescence excitation illumination source; and 
 a mode changer, coupled to the power level and power supply controller, having a first state and a second state,
 wherein, when the mode changer has the first state, the power level and power supply controller (a) provides power to the first, second, and third visible color illumination component sources, and not to the fluorescence excitation source, and (b) the first, second, and third visible color illumination component sources have a first level of illumination; and 
 wherein, when the mode changer has the second state, the power level and power supply controller (a) provides power to the first visible color illumination component source, to at least a portion of the second visible color illumination component source and to the fluorescence excitation source, and not to the third visible color illumination component source, and (b) reduces the levels of illumination of the first visible color illumination component source and the second visible color illumination component source. 
 
   
     
     
         13 . A method of generating an augmented image display in a minimally invasive surgical system comprising:
 generating, by a controller, a first visible color component of a limited bandwidth image including a first acquired component image;   generating, by the controller, a second visible color component of the limited bandwidth image including the first acquired component image, and adding a second acquired component image to the second visible color component, wherein the second acquired component represents fluorescence excited by illumination from a first fluorescence excitation illumination source;   generating, by the controller, a third visible color component of the limited bandwidth image including the first acquired component image,
 wherein the limited bandwidth image does not include an acquired visible color component image resulting from one of the visible color illumination components of white light; and 
   displaying, on a display screen, an image including the limited bandwidth image, wherein a portion of the image including the second acquired component image is highlighted relative to portions of the image not including the second acquired component image.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 ,
 wherein the first acquired component image is an acquired first visible color component image.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 ,
 wherein the first acquired component image is an acquired first visible color component image, and the method further comprising:   receiving, by the controller, a third acquired component image, wherein the third acquired component image is an acquired second visible color component image.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 ,
 wherein the generating a first visible color component further comprises including the third acquired component image;   wherein the generating a second visible color component further comprises including the third acquired component image; and   wherein the generating a third visible color component further comprises including the third acquired component image so that the limited bandwidth images is a limited bandwidth monochromatic image.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 ,
 wherein the first acquired component image is an acquired first visible color component image, and the method further comprising:
 receiving, by the controller, a third acquired component image, wherein the third acquired component image is an acquired second fluorescence image. 
   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 ,
 wherein the controller adds the third acquired component image to the third color component of the limited bandwidth image.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 illuminating a surgical site with less than all of a plurality of visible color illumination components of white light.   
     
     
         20 . A method comprising:
 executing an augmented image correction module on a processor, the executing comprising:
 receiving, on a first visible color component input of a plurality of visible color component inputs, an acquired first visible color component image; 
 receiving, on a second visible color component input of the plurality of visible color component inputs, an acquired fluorescence image; 
 generating, on a first visible color component output, a first signal including the acquired first visible color component image; 
 generating, on a second visible color component output, a second signal including a combination of the acquired first visible color component image and the acquired fluorescence image; and 
 generating, on a third visible color component output, a third signal including the acquired first visible color component image, wherein a combination of the first, second and third signals comprises an image including a limited bandwidth image and the fluorescence image. 
   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising:
 receiving, on a third visible color component input of the plurality of visible color component inputs, an acquired second visible color component image; and
 wherein the first signal includes a combination of the acquired first visible color component image and the acquired second visible color component image; 
 wherein the second signal includes the acquired fluorescence image plus the combination of the acquired first visible color component image and the acquired second visible color component image; and 
 wherein the third signal includes the combination of the acquired first visible color component image and the acquired second visible color component image. 
 
 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising:
 receiving, on a third visible color component input of the plurality of visible color component inputs, an acquired second fluorescence image; and
 wherein the third signal is a combination of the acquired first visible color component image and the acquired second fluorescence image.