Implementation of a Novel, Integrative Approach for Optical 3D Positional Tracking towards Accurate Co-registered Imaging Using Hand-Held Optical Imagers

Hand-held optical imaging devices are one of the recent developments in the area of near-infrared optical imaging, used to non-invasively image breast cancer. Many of these imagers obtain measurements that can be easily contaminated by motion artifacts. The current work presents the implementation of a novel, custom build and miniaturized tracking system utilized alongside a unique co-registration approach for obtaining accurate NIR optical images using hand-held devices. The tracking system uses two CCD cameras, 4 LED s for the wand and 4 LEDs for the patient markers alongside a custom built algorithm to accurately determine 3D positions of the probe and patient in space. This is all done at fraction of the cost of commercially available trackers with acceptable accuracy, stability and precision. Studies are done using curved surfaces to estimate positional information and co-register images based on such positions onto their true locations. This novel approach shows a unique method for obtaining, co-registering and positioning optical images by synchronizing and integrating multiple independent systems using custom-built tracking methodology toward accurate 3D co-registration and tissue-characteristic 3D reconstructions. This integrative approach shows great promise for the development of a commercial system that can be implemented on multiple types of hand-held imagers.