Title: 3D pose estimation of femur fracture segments for vision guided robotic orthopaedic surgery

Authors: Pavan Gamage, Shane Xie, Patrice Delmas, Peter Xu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. ' Department of Computer Science, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. ' School of Engineering & Advanced Technology, Massey University, Private Bag 102904, North Shore City 0745, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: The widespread adoption of minimally invasive surgical techniques has driven the need for three dimensional (3D) intra-operative image guidance. Hence the pose estimation (position and orientation) performed through the registration of pre-operatively prepared 3D anatomical data to intra-operative two dimensional (2D) fluoroscopic images is one of the main research areas of image guided orthopaedic surgery. This paper proposes a non-invasive anatomy-based method for intra-operative pose estimation. The registration is performed solely utilising bony anatomical features extracted from bi-planar fluoroscopic images (frontal and lateral) without invasive external fiducial markers. The novelty of the proposed methodology is involved in the anatomical features utilised, which are unproblematic and robust to extract and facilitate near real-time pose estimation. The results section highlights the implementation of the proposed methodology into a vision guided robotic fracture reduction phantom study.

Keywords: 3D pose estimation; vision guided surgery; femur fracture; robotic surgery; orthopaedic surgery; biomedical robotics; position; orientation; fluoroscopic images.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBBR.2009.030061

International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics, 2009 Vol.1 No.1, pp.57 - 66

Published online: 03 Dec 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article