Proceedings Article | 17 March 2008
Proc. SPIE. 6918, Medical Imaging 2008: Visualization, Image-Guided Procedures, and Modeling
KEYWORDS: 3D acquisition, X-ray computed tomography, Imaging systems, Sensors, Data acquisition, Computed tomography, Electromagnetism, Image-guided intervention, 3D image processing, Pulmonology
When choosing an Electromagnetic Tracking System (EMTS) for image-guided procedures, it is desirable for the
system to be usable for different procedures and environments. Several factors influence this choice. To date,
the only factors that have been studied extensively, are the accuracy and the susceptibility of electromagnetic
tracking systems to distortions caused by ferromagnetic materials. In this paper we provide a holistic overview
of the factors that should be taken into account when choosing an EMTS. These factors include: the system's
refresh rate, the number of sensors that need to be tracked, the size of the navigated region, system interaction
with the environment, can the sensors be embedded into the tools and provide the desired transformation
data, and tracking accuracy and robustness. We evaluate the Aurora EMTS (Northern Digital Inc., Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada) and the 3D Guidance EMTS with the flat-panel and the short-range field generators (Ascension
Technology Corp., Burlington, Vermont, USA) in three clinical environments. We show that these systems are
applicable to specific procedures or in specific environments, but that, no single system is currently optimal for
all environments and procedures we evaluated.
