Automatic registration method using EM sensors in the IoT operating room

Abstract

Abstract The Internet of Things (IoT) in the operating room can aid to improve the quality of the computer-aided surgical system. Patient-to-image registration is an important issue for computer-aided surgical systems. Automating the procedure of patient-to-image registration could increase tracking accuracy and lower the time consumed for performing the procedure of registration. Therefore, we propose an automatic registration method to address this issue by constructing a wireless sensor network system for surgery. A plastic fiducial object combing with specific markers is developed to perform registration in that the ultimate purpose is to integrate them into a surgical robotic system for surgical navigation. The specific markers are designed to localize the position of the small EM sensor and can be automatically detected in CT/MRI images by an automatic algorithm. The positions of the EM tracking sensors can be calibrated during the procedure of registration. Some experiments are designed and performed, and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed registration method is robust and accurate. The proposed registration method is a foundational link of the surgical robots combing with virtual or augmented reality technology that all these technologies will be performed in further surgical navigation.

Keywords

• Wireless sensor networks
• Automatic registration
• Electromagnetic navigation
• Electromagnetic sensor calibration