A 3D ULTRASOUND-BASED TRACKING SYSTEM FOR PROSTATE BIOPSY DISTRIBUTION QUALITY INSURANCE AND GUIDANCE.
Michaël Baumann · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · 2008
The clinical standard procedure for prostate biopsy acquisition is currently performed under ultrasound control following a systematic protocol. It is difficult for the clinician to aim the biopsy targets precisely and it is impossible to know the exact sampling locations after the intervention. This thesis proposes a method for localization of the sampled tissues with a precision of about a millimeter with respect to a 3D image of the prostate that serves as reference. The approach combines rigid and elastic registration techniques driven by cost functions defined on the image intensities with a priori models of the bio-mechanical constraints of the acquisition process. This work makes it possible to implement applications like post-interventional validation of the biopsy distribution and precise cancer distribution maps, which could make focal prostate cancer treatment possible. The proposed approach also allows to guide the clinician towards targets defined in the reference image, these targets might originate for instance from a different imaging modality like MRI or SpectroMRI.