Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/103—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes
  • A61B5/107—Measuring physical dimensions, e.g. size of the entire body or parts thereof
  • A61B5/1079—Measuring physical dimensions, e.g. size of the entire body or parts thereof using optical or photographic means
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/103—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes
  • A61B5/107—Measuring physical dimensions, e.g. size of the entire body or parts thereof
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/103—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes
  • A61B5/11—Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb
  • A61B5/1113—Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
  • A61B5/1114—Tracking parts of the body
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/68—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient
  • A61B5/6801—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface
  • A61B5/6813—Specially adapted to be attached to a specific body part
  • A61B5/6814—Head
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
  • A61B5/70—Means for positioning the patient in relation to the detecting, measuring or recording means

Definitions

• This invention relates to a method for rhinostereo ⁇ metric measurement as well as a device for implementing the method, comprising optical equipment for determining the coordinates of one or more points on a person's nasal mucosa.
• Rhinostereometry is a known optical method used for measuring the congestion of the nasal mucosa.
• the head of the person to be subjected to such measuring is fixed in a coordinate system.
• the positions in the coordinate sys ⁇ tem of a number of points on the nasal mucosa are then determined with the aid of a surgical microscope placed on a micrometer table so as to be movable in all three dimen- sions.
• Rhinostereometry is described in more detail in a doctoral thesis by Jan-Erik Juto: Rhinostereometry, Stock ⁇ holm, 1985, ISBN-91-7222-905-5.
• the head of the test sub- ject must occupy exactly the same position in the coordi ⁇ nate system every time. Positional accuracy has to be extremely high, since a point on the nasal mucosa moves about 4 mm at the most when the mucosa changes from a state of minimum congestion to one of maximum congestion. Such accuracy is hard to achieve.
• the object of the invention is to provide a method and a device making it possible to obtain comparable results in rhinostereometric measurements performed on different occasions. This object is achieved by a method having the dis ⁇ tinctive features recited in appended claim 1 and by a device having the distinctive features recited in appended claim 6. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defin ⁇ ed in the appended subclaims.
• the position of a person's face is deter ⁇ mined by contactless distance measurement from fixed loca- tions in the coordinate system, e.g. by means of radar, ultrasound or laser.
• laser is preferred for reasons of accuracy.
• the coordinates of a point on the person's nasal mucosa are advantageously determined by laser instead of a surgical microscope.
• the movements of the person's head are advantageous ⁇ ly restricted by mechanical fixing means, e.g. in the form of a spectacle frame.
• the drawing illustrates a vertically adjustable table 1, on which are mounted a vertically adjustable chin rest 2 and a fixed frame 3.
• the frame 3 is provided with two fixed limbs 4 on which a spectacle frame 5 having two pad bridges 6, 7 is movably arranged.
• the spectacle frame serves as a means for fixing the head of the person to be subjected to rhinostereometry.
• Five distance-measuring lasers 8-12 are fixedly arranged on the frame 3 and so directed that the laser beams of two lasers 8, 9 impinge upon the test subject's face at the temples, that the laser beam of one laser 10 impinges upon the forehead, and that the laser beams of two lasers 11, 12 impinge upon the face on each side of the root of the nose.
• aiming of the lasers is believed to be the most suitable for determining the position of the head in a fixed coordinate system with maximum accuracy.
• the lasers are advantageously directed towards the forehead, the temples and the root of the nose, since the skull here is close beneath the skin, making the shape of the face always essentially the same in these places.
• the lasers should not be directed towards parts of the face that may swell owing to lack of sleep, heat or the like.
• the lasers are arranged at a distance of about 1-5 cm from the test subject's face. Use should, of course, be made of lasers providing a high resolution at such a distance.
• the lasers 8-12 are connected to a com ⁇ puter 13 which contains the software for determining, on the basis of the distances measured by the lasers, the coordinates in a fixed coordinate system of the points in the test subject's face on which the laser beams impinge.
• the inventive device includes optical mea ⁇ suring equipment 14 (shown merely in the form of a block) for determining the coordinates of the points on the nasal mucosa.
• the optical measuring equipment 14 may in known manner include a surgical microscope having an objective and an eyepiece so chosen as to give a shallow depth of field.
• the microscope can be so arranged on a micrometer table as to be movable along the x-, y- and z-axes in the fixed coordinate system in which are determined the coor ⁇ dinates of points in the face and on the nasal mucosa.
• the optical measuring equipment may include a scanning distance-measuring laser which scans a predetermined surface or a predetermined distance.
• the optical equipment is connected to the computer 13, such that the position, when using a microscope, or the measur ⁇ ed distance, when using a scanning laser, can be inputted into the computer 13. >
• the spectacle frame 5 When a patient is to be subjected to rhinostereomet ⁇ ric measurement for the first time, he is asked to put his chin on the chin rest 2, and the spectacle frame 5 is then moved downwards over his face so that the pad bridges 6 and 7 come to be applied against the root of the nose.
• the spectacle frame 5 may be provided with a pressure transducer (not shown) emitting a signal when the spectacle frame is applied against the test subject's face by at least a predetermined pressure. This is conducive to increasing the accuracy, making it possible to always apply the spectacle frame against the face with the same pressure.
• the distance- measuring lasers 8-12 are activated.
• the microscope is displaced so as to focus a desired point on the nasal mucosa, i.e. placing it in the depth of field.
• measurement begins by the operator pushing a button, whereupon the position of the microscope on the micrometer table is read and inputted into the computer 13, and the distances, measured by the lasers 8-12, to the points towards which the lasers are directed are inputted into the computer 13.
• the computer converts the distances measured by the lasers 8-12 into coordinates in a fixed coordinate system and stores the coordinates in the compu ⁇ ter memory as a set of reference coordinates.
• the computer 13 also calculates the coordinates of the point on the nasal mucosa for which the measurement has been performed. A more detailed description of how the coordinates of the point on the nasal mucosa are determined is found in the above-mentioned doctoral thesis.
• the test subject may have moved his head slightly in either direction so as to press harder against one pad bridge. Such movements of the head may, however, be com ⁇ pensated for by using the method and the device according to the invention.
• the com ⁇ puter 13 may calculate the coordinates of these points in the fixed coordinate system and thus determine the posi ⁇ tion occupied by the test subject's head when the most recent measurement in the nose was performed.
• the computer can determine how the coordinates of the point in the nose are to be corrected in order to compensate for the facial movements that have taken place.
• the coordi ⁇ nates of the points in the face from the later measurement can be transposed in the coordinate system so as to coin- cide with the reference coordinates, and the coordinates of the point in the nose be likewise transposed.
• the inventive method yields comparable results in different measurements also when the head does not occupy exactly the same position in the coordinate system on the diffe- rent measuring occasions.
• the reference coordinates from the first measurement are stored and used in all subse ⁇ quent measurements, so that the measured values can always be related to one another even when a long time has pass ⁇ ed.
• the number of lasers as well as their positions may vary. Of course, higher accuracy can be achieved by using a larger number of lasers.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Medical Informatics (AREA)
• Molecular Biology (AREA)
• Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (AREA)
• Biophysics (AREA)
• Pathology (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
• Dentistry (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Surgery (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Physiology (AREA)
• Length Measuring Devices By Optical Means (AREA)
• Length Measuring Devices With Unspecified Measuring Means (AREA)
• Eyeglasses (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

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Citations (3)

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• 1992
  • 1992-08-12 SE SE9202333A patent/SE470440B/sv not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1993
  • 1993-08-12 AU AU47669/93A patent/AU4766993A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1993-08-12 JP JP6506160A patent/JPH08500498A/ja active Pending
  • 1993-08-12 EP EP94908132A patent/EP0654975A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1993-08-12 WO PCT/SE1993/000670 patent/WO1994004077A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1993-08-12 US US08/382,050 patent/US5666957A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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