迈向自主机器人肾脏超声：通过模板引导的最优旋转实现空间高效的体积分层成像
Towards Autonomous Robotic Kidney Ultrasound: Spatial-Efficient Volumetric Imaging via Template Guided Optimal Pivoting
AI总结：
本文提出了一种基于模板引导的最优旋转方法，用于实现空间高效的肾脏超声成像，通过最小化探头足迹提高扫描效率和准确性。
摘要：
医学超声（US）成像是诊断肾脏疾病的一线工具。然而，传统的自由手成像过程存在不一致、依赖操作者、缺乏3D定位信息以及工作相关肌肉骨骼疾病的风险。尽管机器人超声（RUS）系统有潜力实现标准化、非依赖操作者的3D肾脏数据采集，但现有扫描方法缺乏确定最优成像窗口以提高效率的能力。因此，扫描通常盲目进行，使用过多的探头足迹，这经常导致声影和不完全的器官覆盖。因此，存在迫切需要一种空间高效成像技术，通过最小的探头足迹最大化肾脏覆盖。在此，我们提出了一种自主工作流程，通过模板引导的最优旋转实现高效的肾脏成像。系统首先进行探索性成像以生成肾脏的部分观测。此数据随后被注册到肾脏模板以估计器官姿态。在肾脏被定位后，机器人执行固定点旋转扫掠，其中成像平面与肾脏长轴对齐以最小化探头位移。所提出的方法在仿真和体内评估中得到了验证。仿真结果表明，60%的探索比提供了肾脏定位准确性和扫描效率之间的最佳平衡。对两名男性受试者的体内评估显示，肾脏定位的准确性高达7.36毫米和13.84度。此外，最优旋转方法将探头足迹缩短了约75毫米，与基线相比。这些结果验证了我们利用解剖模板对齐探头以实现体积分层扫掠的方法。
英文摘要：
Medical ultrasound (US) imaging is a frontline tool for the diagnosis of kidney diseases. However, traditional freehand imaging procedure suffers from inconsistent, operator-dependent outcomes, lack of 3D localization information, and risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. While robotic ultrasound (RUS) systems offer the potential for standardized, operator-independent 3D kidney data acquisition, the existing scanning methods lack the ability to determine the optimal imaging window for efficient imaging. As a result, the scan is often blindly performed with excessive probe footprint, which frequently leads to acoustic shadowing and incomplete organ coverage. Consequently, there is a critical need for a spatially efficient imaging technique that can maximize the kidney coverage through minimum probe footprint. Here, we propose an autonomous workflow to achieve efficient kidney imaging via template-guided optimal pivoting. The system first performs an explorative imaging to generate partial observations of the kidney. This data is then registered to a kidney template to estimate the organ pose. With the kidney localized, the robot executes a fixed-point pivoting sweep where the imaging plane is aligned with the kidney long axis to minimize the probe translation. The proposed method was validated in simulation and in-vivo. Simulation results indicate that a 60% exploration ratio provides optimal balance between kidney localization accuracy and scanning efficiency. In-vivo evaluation on two male subjects demonstrates a kidney localization accuracy up to 7.36 mm and 13.84 degrees. Moreover, the optimal pivoting approach shortened the probe footprint by around 75 mm when compared with the baselines. These results valid our approach of leveraging anatomical templates to align the probe optimally for volumetric sweep.
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