US-12620324-B2 - Method of assessing the performance of a human or robot carrying out a medical procedure and assessment tool

US12620324B2US 12620324 B2US12620324 B2US 12620324B2US-12620324-B2

Abstract

The present invention relates to method of assessing the performance of a human or robot carrying out a medical procedure by using a phantom resembling a human or animal organ or tissue and to an assessment tool comprising such a phantom.

Inventors

Tian Qiu
Peer Fischer
Fabian Adams
Arkadiusz MIERNIK

Assignees

MAX-PLANCK-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20170523
Priority Date: 20160530

Claims (14)

1 . A method of assessing the performance of a medical procedure by using a phantom resembling a human or animal organ or tissue, the method comprising the steps of: providing a target region of the phantom having a first state at the start of the medical procedure; carrying out the medical procedure to transform the target region of the phantom from the first state to a second state by removing material of the target region; and obtaining an assessment, by assessing a comparison of the first state and the second state, of the medical procedure, wherein the phantom comprises two different first and second contrast agents embedded in at least the material to be removed of the same phantom for respective first and second imaging modalities, with the first and second imaging modalities differing from one another, and with only the first imaging modality being used to detect the first contrast agent while carrying out the procedure to transform the target region from the first state to the second state, wherein, after performing the procedure, the comparison is carried out so that the material removed by the medical procedure is visualizable by detecting the second contrast agent using only the second imaging modality and the comparison is carried out by an analysis of the material removed with respect to a material that is left behind in the phantom or with reference to an evaluation standard on the basis of the second imaging modality, wherein material removed from the phantom by the medical procedure is visualized by incorporating fluorescent material in the phantom, wherein the target region further comprises an optical pattern, with the optical pattern including information regarding at least one of the position, size and illumination intensity of the target region.
2 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein material removed from the phantom by the medical procedure is visualized by at least one of: incorporating material visualizeable on the application of UV light into the phantom under UV light; and investigating the phantom by ultrasound, by MRI, by CT, by PET and/or by X-ray imaging.
3 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a scoring system for the assessment is establishable on the basis of the comparison using measured physical parameters.
4 . The method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein the physical parameters are selected from the group of members consisting of the time of the procedure, a blood loss, a measurement of volume/weight of material removed, mechanical strength, elasticity, resistance of an electrical connection, pressure, fluidic flow, and/or proper function of a device or implant.
5 . The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the phantom comprises tissue having at least one property that resembles at least one property of the human or animal tissue, with said tissue comprising at least first and second regions, wherein said second region has at least one characteristic that is different from a characteristic of the first region and said at least one characteristic is configured to be visualized or imaged, with said second region comprising a target region.
6 . The method in accordance with claim 5 , further comprising the step of providing the phantom with a third region simulating a transient region in between the first and second regions; and wherein the assessment is carried out by analyzing the size and/or position and/or intensity of the third region; or wherein the assessment is carried out by analyzing an amount of tissue removed from and/or left in the phantom; and/or by measuring how much volume and/or weight of the second and third regions are removed from the first region.
7 . The method in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the second region has at least one different material property in comparison to the first and third regions, with the at least one different material property of the second region being detectable during the medical procedure, with this at least one different material property being selected from the group of members consisting of a visual property of the texture, a color, an elasticity, a heat conductivity, a roughness, a haptic property, a density, a fluidic content, and combinations thereof.
8 . A method of assessing the performance of a medical procedure by using a phantom resembling a human or animal organ or tissue, the method comprising the steps of: providing the phantom with a target region to be removed having a known size and position, simulating a tumor, a stone, a bone fragment, a bullet or a bullet or knife wound; performing the medical procedure on the target region to alter a state of the target region; obtaining a diagnostic result by carrying out a diagnostic procedure with a medical imaging device to determine the altered state of the target region; and obtaining an assessment of the medical procedure by assessing, from a comparison of the diagnostic result with the known size and position of the target region, wherein the phantom comprises two different first and second contrast agents embedded in at least a material to be removed of the same phantom for respective first and second imaging modalities, with the first and second imaging modalities differing from one another, and with only the first imaging modality being used to detect the first contrast agent while performing the medical procedure, wherein the comparison is carried out by preparing the phantom so that the target region is visualizable using only the second imaging modality to detect the second contrast agent and the comparison is carried out by an analysis of the target region or with reference to an evaluation standard on the basis of the second imaging modality, wherein the material removed from the target region of the phantom by the medical procedure is visualized by incorporating fluorescent material in the phantom, wherein the target region further comprises an optical pattern embedded therein, with the optical pattern including information regarding at least one of the position, size and illumination intensity of the target region.
9 . The method in accordance with claim 8 , wherein a scoring system for the assessment is establishable on the basis of the comparison using measured physical parameters.
10 . The method in accordance with claim 9 , wherein the physical parameters are selected from the group of members consisting of the time of the procedure, a blood loss, a measurement of volume/weight of material removed, mechanical strength, elasticity, resistance of an electrical connection, pressure, fluidic flow, and/or proper function of a device or implant.
11 . The method in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the phantom comprises tissue having at least one property that resembles at least one property of the human or animal tissue, with said tissue comprising at least first and second regions, wherein said second region has at least one characteristic that is different from a characteristic of the first region and said at least one characteristic is configured to be visualized or imaged, with said second region comprising a target region.
12 . The method in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the assessment is made by assessing the at least one characteristic of the second region.
13 . The method in accordance with claim 11 , further comprising the step of providing the phantom with a third region simulating a transient region in between the first and second regions; and wherein the assessment is carried out by analyzing the size and/or position and/or intensity of the third region; or wherein the assessment is carried out by analyzing an amount of tissue removed from and/or left in the phantom; and/or by measuring how much volume and/or weight of the second and third regions are removed from the first region.
14 . The method in accordance with claim 13 , wherein the second region has at least one different material property in comparison to the first and third regions, with the at least one different material property of the second region being detectable during the medical procedure, with this at least one different material property being selected from the group of members consisting of a visual property of the texture, a color, an elasticity, a heat conductivity, a roughness, a haptic property, a density, a fluidic content, and combinations thereof.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a 371 National Phase Application of Patent Application PCT/EP2017/062441, filed on May 23, 2017, which claims the priority of European Application No. 16172004.0 filed on May 30, 2016, each of which is incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. The present invention relates to a method of assessing the performance of a human or robot carrying out a medical procedure by using a phantom resembling a human or animal organ or tissue and to an assessment tool for assessing the performance of a human or a robot carrying out a simulated medical procedure on a phantom. Medical training aids are known that can be used in the training of medical personnel. These training aids typically have an outer shape that resembles that of the concerned body part. These training aids are frequently not produced with a high degree of anatomical correctness, so that e.g. for radiological training purposes, e.g. calyces in a kidney cannot readily be identified therefrom, as these are either not present or the structures present in the training aid are too large so that one cannot carry out a differentiation at the scale normally associated with these structures in a real organ. Moreover, these training aids are frequently not made from a material that permit a surgeon to obtain a correct feel of the organ as e.g. the elastic modulus of the materials used to make these phantoms differs from that of the real organ, such that their use in surgical training is limited. It should also be noted that these training aids have hitherto been very expensive and so their use has so far been limited to medical specialists, due to their limited resolution very specific kinds of medical procedures are frequently not conducted using such phantoms due to the differences present between the phantoms and the real organs. For this reason it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved training aid by means of which an improved surgical or diagnostic training is made possible. It is a further object of the invention to provide a training aid by means of which improved feedback can be given on the medical procedure conducted with the training aid. It is yet a further object to provide a low cost surgical training aid that can be produced with a so far unknown anatomical correctness. It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a surgical phantom that responds in a way similar to the real organ. These objects are respectively satisfied by a method of assessing the performance of a human or robot carrying out a medical procedure by using a phantom resembling a human or animal organ or tissue and by an assessment tool for assessing the performance of a human or a robot carrying out a simulated medical procedure on a phantom An assessment tool for assessing the performance of a human or a robot carrying out a simulated medical procedure on a phantom, in accordance with the invention has the phantom, with the phantom comprising artificial tissue having at least one property that resembles at least one property of the human or animal tissue, with said artificial tissue comprising at least first and second regions, wherein said second region has at least one characteristic that is different from a characteristic of the first region, the tool including a visualization aid permitting the simulated medical procedure to be visualized to carry out the assessment, with said second region comprising a target region, in particular simulating a tumor, a kidney stone, a bone fragment, a bullet or a bullet or knife wound. Due to the fact that the phantom comprises artificial tissue having at least one property that resembles at least one property of the human or animal tissue this can be used e.g. for diagnostic purposes as the at least one property is then selected such that the phantom can be diagnosed correctly in a medical imaging device. In this connection it is advantageous if the material that has the at least one tissue like property is selected such that the at least one tissue like property reproduces at least one of a mechanical property, an imaging contrast in MRI, CT, X-ray or Ultrasound, an optical property, a visual appearance, a tissue's or organ's absorbance of electromagnetic radiation, a tissue's or organ's absorbance of acoustic waves, a haptic property of the tissue or organ, and an elastic modulus of the corresponding tissue found in the organ. It is also possible to embed a second structure in the phantom in order to replicate e.g. a tumor in the target region. Similar material properties can also be selected for the second structure that is embedded into the phantom if this is to be e.g. a tumor. Thus, a material used for the second structure has at least one property that reproduces at least one of a mechanical property, an imaging contrast in MRI, CT, X-ray or Ultrasound, an optical property, a visual appearance, a tissue's or organ's absorbanc