The present patent document claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 10 2019 200 786.4, filed Jan. 23, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a medical imaging device and a method for supporting medical personnel. The disclosure further relates to a corresponding computer program product and a computer-readable storage medium on which a corresponding computer program product is stored.

BACKGROUND

In medical practice, it may be decisive for the success of a diagnosis and treatment that relevant medical personnel, for example, a physician or surgeon administering treatment, have the most precise and complete possible image of a relevant anatomical situation at the right time point. For this purpose, a whole range of measures and methods which may provide support to the medical personnel, for example, with a visualization have been developed in recent years. With conventional methods known from medical practice, markers that are visible or imageable, for example, by a relevant imaging modality being used, may be attached to pre-defined anatomical features. Such markers may then enable a registration of image data with other data records, just as with a tracking of a movement. However, this is associated with a corresponding effort for the placement and later removal of the markers and cannot provide a precise result in all situations. For example, in the case of a resection, a marker is arranged on a remaining anatomical part and thus may not provide satisfactory results in the region of the resection in the event of a deformation of the respective anatomical part.

SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTION

It is an object of the present disclosure to enable an improved support to medical personnel. The scope of the present disclosure is defined solely by the appended claims and is not affected to any degree by the statements within this summary. The present embodiments may obviate one or more of the drawbacks or limitations in the related art.

A medical imaging device has a data acquisition facility, a detection facility, and a data processing facility. Some or all of these facilities may be integrated or combined, for example, they may be or represent parts or functions of a common device or unit, for example, a circuitry unit or data processing unit. The data acquisition facility serves, that is, it is designed and configured to receive a three-dimensional (3D) data record, generated by a first imaging modality, of an examination object and to receive image data, generated by a second imaging modality, of the examination object. Herein, the first and the second imaging modalities are different from one another. Furthermore, herein, at least one first and second tissue region of the same organ represented both by the 3D data record and also by the image data respectively have different imaging properties under at least the second imaging modality. The two tissue regions may have different imaging properties under the two imaging modalities. It may be provided, in particular, that the two tissue regions are similar, that is, are of the same style or the same type of tissue. Such tissue regions of the same organ cannot be readily distinguished or delineated from one another with conventional methods and may only be insufficiently defined with markers.

An imaging property is therein a property of the respective tissue region which leads to this tissue region being represented or imaged by the respective imaging modality in a particular manner, in particular, delineated against surrounding tissues or tissue regions. The imaging property may be an enhanced contrast as compared with an uninfluenced state, a changed color, a changed reflection, or absorption behavior for a radiation and/or the like used as part of the respective imaging modality. By the different imaging properties, the two tissue regions are thus differentiable from one another, although they are or may be from the same tissue or the same tissue type. These different imaging properties may be generated, for example, by at least one of the tissue regions being marked by a contrast medium or a dye. Similarly, for example, a blood vessel which supplies a tissue region may be clamped or constricted before the recording of the image data and/or, if relevant, of the 3D data record in order to create an ischemia, that is a blood undersupply, in the respective tissue region, which may affect, for example, the color or a spectral reflectance and/or an oxygen content of the tissue region in a detectable manner.

The acquisition of the 3D data record and of the image data may include or mean their actual recording or measurement by the respective imaging modality. The imaging modalities may thus be part of the medical imaging device or connected thereto. If the first imaging modality is, for example, a computed tomography or a computer tomograph or a magnetic resonance system, the medical imaging device may accordingly be designed as a computer tomograph or as a magnetic resonance system or may include one such.

Equally, the acquisition of the 3D data record or of the image data may mean or include their retrieval from a corresponding data store by the data acquisition facility, for example, via a corresponding data interface or data connection. In this case, the medical imaging device may be configured as a computer or a computation facility or as a data processing device.

These possibilities of acquisition may be different or independent from one another for the 3D data record and the image data. For example, the 3D data record may be a CT or magnetic resonance data record already recorded in the past which is retrieved by the medical imaging device from a corresponding data store, whereas the image data may be recorded at a respective current time point, e.g., as live data of the examination object. Equally, the 3D image data record may be or may include a 3D model of the examination object generated from such a 3D CT or 3D magnetic resonance data record. In certain examples, the image data may be or may include one or more camera images or a video or a video stream of the examination object. Accordingly, the second imaging modality may be a camera or a camera-based imaging of the examination object.

The examination object may be a patient, a subregion of the patient, the organ, or a part of the organ. The organ may thus be the examination object or a part of the examination object.

The detection facility of the medical imaging device serves and thus is designed and configured for the automatic detection of at least one tissue boundary in the image data between the first tissue region and the second tissue region on the basis of the different imaging properties. The detection facility may thus be or include an image processing and/or object recognition or feature recognition algorithm or a correspondingly configured electronic data processing unit. The tissue boundary may herein be a line or an area, depending upon the configuration of the image data.

The data processing facility of the medical imaging device serves, and thus is designed and configured for the automatic registration of the image data with the 3D data record by alignment of the at least one detected tissue boundary on a corresponding segment or tissue boundary in a 3D data record. The image data and the 3D data record may thus be virtually overlaid or brought into coincidence, so that spatial points or regions corresponding to one another, in the present case in particular, the tissue boundary, are brought into coincidence with one another or into a spatial positional relationship to one another corresponding to reality or are assigned to one another accordingly. A corresponding assignment may be given by determining a transformation of corresponding coordinate systems of the 3D data record and of the image data into one another, so that by the determined transformation, the image data may be spatially correctly mapped onto the 3D data record or vice versa.

The tissue boundary along which the tissue regions or their different imaging properties meet one another serves here therefore as a reference for the registration. The tissue boundary may herein be an abstract line or area which does not necessarily itself correspond to a concrete anatomical feature. Because the tissue boundary may extend here directly through or along a part of the organ that is, for example, to be resected, without physically hindering or limiting the respective treating surgeon. Equally, as distinct from a marker, the tissue boundary does not have to be manually placed and subsequently removed again. The tissue boundary may thus advantageously also enable an advantageous and reliable marking and visualization in situations in which, for example, a conventional marker is not, or not reliably, usable.

In the 3D data record, the corresponding tissue boundary may be given or marked by a corresponding automatic, semi-automatic or manual segmentation. Equally, the tissue boundary may be estimated in the 3D data record, for instance, by geometrical methods based upon a vascular tree contrasted for the 3D data record or upon a respective spacing of parts or volume elements of the organ from the vascular tree or individual vessels of the vascular tree which supply different tissue regions.

Additionally or alternatively, the data processing facility of the medical imaging device is designed and configured for automatic movement compensation of a movement of the examination object that has taken place or arisen during the generation of the image data, by the at least one tissue boundary. Herein, the tissue boundary may thus serve as a marker or reference feature on the basis of which the movement of the examination object may be detected and tracked. This is also more flexible and reliable, where relevant, and is possible with less physical restrictions or impediments than in the use of conventional physical markers. The movement compensation may be carried out, for example, for an overlaying of the 3D data record and the image data, so that the image data may be overlaid on the 3D data record spatially correctly, that is, according to a respectively current posture of the examination object, so that a reliable and correct overview of the respectively current anatomical situation may be provided to the respective medical personnel.

Equally, the movement compensation may additionally or alternatively be carried out, for example, for the 3D data record and/or virtual data overlaid on the image data, for example, a virtual model of at least part of the examination object, of an instrument, an instrument path, a target region (region of interest, RoI) and/or the like, on the basis of the tissue boundary. For this purpose, the tissue boundary may thus be tracked in the image data or by the image data, in particular optically. The tissue boundary defined by the different imaging properties of the tissue regions meeting one another along the tissue boundary represents thereby a substantially simpler, more reliably and robustly trackable feature than conventionally used surface features.

Overall, the present disclosure offers, by making a tissue, that is, the at least two tissue regions, visible in two different imaging modalities or imaging techniques and through the use of the tissue boundary as a reference feature, improved capabilities as compared with conventional methods for supporting the medical personnel, for example, by an improved visualization and/or an improved guidance or navigation.

In an advantageous embodiment, the medical imaging device, (e.g., the detection facility of the medical imaging device), is configured to carry out an automatic segmentation of the 3D data record and/or the image data on the basis of the different imaging properties. In other words, the medical imaging device is configured to process the 3D data record and/or the image data, for example, by an image processing algorithm, and to recognize or treat a jump in the imaging properties, that is, for example a contrast jump or a color jump, as the boundary between the tissue regions. If the organ is, for example, a liver, then different segments, lobes or vascular supply regions of the liver may be the different tissue regions.

In conventional methods, this may be performed manually in that different branches of a vascular tree which supply different tissue regions or segments are marked and then the tissue regions or segments are defined based upon geometric methods, for example, by assignment of individual parenchyma-volume elements to a branch of the vascular tree on the basis of a respective least spacing between the respective volume element and a vessel.

With the present disclosure, this conventionally manual process that may be imprecise due to model assumptions may be replaced by an automated process, whereby the segmentation may be carried out or achieved more rapidly and, where relevant, more reliably or more accurately.

If the imaging properties of the different tissue regions are changed, for example, by introducing a contrast medium or a dye and/or by constricting or clamping a branch of the vascular tree, then—by corresponding physiological processes—exactly one respective vascular supply region, that is, a respective segment, is accordingly marked or emphasized, whereby the contrast medium or the dye or the blood undersupply spreads out through even the smallest vessel branches, which with conventional methods would possibly not be visible or may be taken into account manually only with a substantial degree of effort.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the medical imaging device, (e.g., the data processing facility of the medical imaging device), is configured to determine and specify automatically a spacing from the tissue boundary to a pre-defined target tissue. The pre-defined target tissue may be a tumor or a tissue change. By determining and specifying the spacing between this target tissue and the tissue boundary, it may advantageously be specified or identified how much safety margin still exists, for example, on a resection of the target tissue before a danger of damage to a vessel from the vessel region or supply area exists on the other side of the tissue boundary. Equally, on the basis of the spacing, for example, it may be estimated whether the target tissue may extend, if relevant, through the tissue boundary into deeper regions of the organ. The determined and specified spacing thus offers valuable data to medical personnel, which may facilitate a planning and successful execution of an intervention. The spacing may be specified, for example, as a numerical value, a matrix, or a grid of numerical values, color-coded, as a virtual scale in an overlay image, for example, as a virtual element of a representation of the augmented reality and/or in a similar manner.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the data processing facility is configured to determine automatically a difference of shapes, arrangements, or courses of the at least one detected tissue boundary in the image data and of the corresponding tissue boundary in the 3D data record and to distort the 3D data record or a 3D model generated therefrom according to the difference determined. In other words, the shape or the course of the tissue boundary detected in the image data is transferred to the 3D data record or the 3D model generated therefrom. For example, the registration between the 3D data record and the image data may be carried out deformably or elastically. For this purpose, on the basis of the image data or by a comparison of the image data with the 3D data record, a movement field for the examination object or the organ may be determined.

The movement field is a data record, for example, a value matrix or a mathematical function by which a movement or position change of individual volume or surface elements of the tissue regions or of the organ or of the examination object may be defined. This may be related to a non-deformed position or shape which may be provided by the preoperative or pre-interventional 3D data record.

The movement field determined or an inverted movement field determined therefrom may be applied to the 3D data record or the 3D model generated therefrom in order to reproduce the corresponding deformation, e.g., to effect or generate it also in the 3D data record or the 3D model generated therefrom. Because a displacement or a distortion of the examination object and thus also of the tissue boundary may occur during the intervention, caused, for example, by a physical contact between an instrument or tool and the organ, in this way an updated 3D model or an updated 3D data record may advantageously be obtained. Thus, herein a deformed and registered updated 3D data record or a deformed and registered updated 3D model is generated or obtained which defines or represents a real posture and geometry of the tissue regions or the organ at the respective time point of acquiring or generating the image data. This may advantageously give support to the respective medical personnel by a situation-adapted and realistic visualization or representation of a respective anatomical situation The image data may be, (e.g., stereoscopic), camera images as much as, for example, an intra-interventionally or intraoperatively recorded CT or magnetic resonance or ultrasonic data record.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the medical imaging device is configured to generate and output an augmented image by overlaying the image data with an overlay image which represents a three-dimensional continuation of the at least one detected tissue boundary through a volume of the organ. The tissue boundary or its continuation may then therefore be a volume boundary between the two then three-dimensional tissue regions, that is, may be or define a boundary area between these tissue regions. This boundary surface, that is, the tissue boundary or the continuation thereof may be a virtual object or model which may be inserted into the augmented image. Because the image data represents or images the real examination object, there is therefore a representation of the augmented or mixed reality, so that the augmented image may also be designated an Augmented Reality (AR) image. The continuation of the tissue boundary or the AR image may advantageously impart to the relevant medical personnel a spatial impression of an anatomical situation which is not visible, for example, by observing the tissue regions or the organ from outside, for example, on the basis of conventional camera images that, for instance, a laparoscope used in the respective intervention may supply.

In this way, the medical personnel may advantageously be assisted during a resection, because, for example, an incision angle may be oriented to the three-dimensional course of the tissue boundary in order to avoid a penetration of the tissue boundary and thereby an injury to the respective adjoining tissue region. This is particularly advantageous because, in particular, vessel injuries and corresponding bleeding represent a significant challenge, for example, during liver resections. Equally, a course of vessels below the visible tissue surface that are not visible in a 2D image recorded, for example, by a laparoscope may be inserted in order to prevent an unintentional injury to these vessels.

The continuation of the tissue boundary may be estimated or may have been estimated, for example, by a biomechanical model of the organ on the basis of the, in particular, pre-interventional or preoperative 3D data record and, where relevant, the deformation of the 3D data record or a 3D model generated therefrom according to the biomechanical model and the course of the, for example, two-dimensional tissue boundary detected in the, in particular, intra-interventional image data. Equally, the continuation of the tissue boundary may be determined, for example, on the basis of an intra-interventional further or second 3D data record, for example, a 3D CT or 3D magnetic resonance data record. In each case, an impression of the respective anatomical situation beneath a visible surface of the tissue regions or of the organ, that is, the respective anatomical situation in the volume of the organ may be offered for support to the medical personnel by the augmented image. For this purpose, the augmented image may be output by a stereoscopic or 3D display device, for example, by a stereoscopic or 3D screen or an AR headset or a head-mounted display (HMD).

In a further advantageous embodiment, it is provided that in the 3D data record, the at least one corresponding tissue boundary is marked or will be marked three-dimensionally or, for example, by the medical imaging device. This may be realized, for example, by a corresponding automatic, semiautomatic, or manual segmentation. Furthermore, it is then provided that the image data includes at least one stereoscopic camera image of the organ following a resection of the organ. The image data may include stereoscopic camera images which are or have been generated or recorded before and after and/or continuously during the resection of the organ. The data processing facility is then configured to reconstruct automatically a 3D surface of at least one remaining subregion of the organ and to carry out and/or to update the registration of the image data with the 3D data record taking account of the reconstructed 3D surface. For example, on the basis of the reconstructed 3D surface, if relevant, by comparison with a stereoscopic camera image recorded before the resection and/or with the pre-interventional 3D data record, an extent of the resection, that is, a removed volume or a size of a removed tissue region of the organ, may be estimated or modeled.

The reconstruction of the 3D surface may be carried out, just like the registration or its updating, continuously or regularly, in particular automatically, for example, as soon as a change in the 3D surface is detected and/or if new surfaces or regions of the organ are exposed. Because the different imaging properties of the tissue regions may relate to their respective exposed surface or their respective overall volume, by the present disclosure, with the registration method based ultimately upon the different imaging properties, the registration may advantageously also still be reliably carried out or maintained in the case of a resection, that is, a physical shape and volume change of the tissue regions or of the organ, despite the deviation from the pre-interventional 3D data record which then arises.

The registration thus advantageously also still functions in the present case if an incision has already been made into the depth or the volume of the organ, because the different imaging properties, that is, the multispectral tissue boundary between the tissue regions may advantageously exist in the entire volume of the organ.

Since by the resection and a thereby possibly simultaneously occurring displacement or deformation of the organ or the tissue regions, a substantial calculation effort may arise for the registration, pre-defined boundary conditions may advantageously be considered in order to limit the calculation effort. For example, a shape change with maximum stiffness, also designated in the technical language as as-rigid-as-possible shape manipulation, may be assumed, that is, a corresponding assumption of stiffness may be made for the organ. In the present case, on the basis of the stereoscopic camera image, it may thus be estimated how far a currently exposed surface of the tissue region or of the organ below an original surface of the tissue regions or of the organ according to the pre-interventional 3D data record. By this, the registration between the image data and the 3D data record is also possible if the shape and position of the organ surface in the 3D data record differs from the shape and position of the respectively exposed surface of the organ imaged by the intra-interventional image data.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the different imaging properties include a fluorescence of one of the tissue regions in a spectral region lying outside the visible spectrum. This tissue region may thus fluoresce in the infrared region, which is not detectable within the human visual capability or in conventional camera images. The medical imaging device includes, in order to generate the image data, a multispectral camera which is configured to generate as part of the image data both a fluorescence image in the spectral region of the fluorescence and also, in particular, simultaneously therewith, an optical image in the visible spectrum or spectral region. The multispectral camera may be integrated into a laparoscope which is connected via a data connection to the data acquisition facility. The second imaging modality is thus provided by the multispectral camera, wherein the tissue regions or their imaging properties differ in that only one of the tissue regions fluoresces in the spectral region lying outside the visible spectrum. For this purpose, the corresponding tissue regions may be marked with a fluorescing dye, for example indocyanine green (ICG). The multispectral camera may include a plurality of lenses, filters, beam splitters, and/or image sensors or the like in order to record the fluorescence image as well as the optical image. For example, by overlaying the fluorescence image and the optical image, the tissue region may then be or have been made recognizable to the relevant medical personnel, in particular without physical hindrance, such as, for example, a corresponding marker could represent. At the same time, an undisplaced and uninfluenced view of the organ as it actually appears is made possible for the medical personnel by the optical image.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the image data includes images created by a camera and the medical imaging device is configured, for the registration and/or the movement compensation, to track a posture of the camera during the generation of the image data. For this purpose, the medical imaging device includes a tracking facility, that is a tracking system, and/or is itself configured for an automatic tracking of the camera based upon the image data. The former is designated outside-in tracking and the latter inside-out tracking. The tracking facility may track the camera, for example, by an electromagnetic tracking and/or image-based, for example, by at least one marker arranged on the camera and/or by object recognition in simultaneously recorded fluoroscopic images in which the camera is visible. By the tracking of the camera, the registration or the movement compensation are advantageously particularly reliably carried out. Because therefore the respective posture of the camera and thus a spatial position of the images generated or recorded by the camera is defined relative to a coordinate system, for example, of the 3D data record, an update of the registration and/or the movement compensation may then be carried out or maintained during a movement of the camera and/or of the examination object particularly easily, that is, with particularly little computation effort.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the 3D data record shows a pre-interventional state of the examination object. The medical imaging device is then configured to receive or acquire a second 3D data record, which like the image data, shows an intra-interventional state of the examination object, and to register this second 3D data record to the pre-interventional 3D data record. In the intra-interventional state, either one of the tissue regions is marked with an X-ray visible contrast medium and with a fluorescence dye and the second 3D data record is a 3D CT data record or one of the tissue regions is marked with an X-ray-visible contrast medium and, on the basis of a blood supply property, is differentiable from the other tissue region and the second 3D data record is, for this purpose, a 3D magnetic resonance data record which is recorded by a sequence which maps the blood supply property. The blood supply property may be a perfusion or a blood oxygen content. The blood oxygen content may be determined or differentiated, for example, by a blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast or by a BOLD sequence. In both variants, it is thus provided that the tissue regions are differentiable by the respective imaging modality used for recording the second 3D data record on the basis of their different imaging properties.

Furthermore, the medical imaging device is then configured to track the marked tissue region on the basis of the continuously acquired image data which includes camera images of the tissue regions. The image data may either acquire or image the fluorescence of the marked tissue region or a changed color of the tissue region due to the different blood oxygen content. The medical imaging device is further configured to update the registration automatically on the basis of the image data.

It may thus be provided herein, for example, that a mixture of X-ray visible contrast medium and fluorescence dye is injected directly under a surface of the organ, e.g., at a plurality of locations. Alternatively, the surface may also be coated externally with such a mixture, that is, visibly “painted”. For example, with a C-arm CT device, the spatial position of this contrast medium enrichment—and thus the position or posture of the organ or of the organ surface—may be registered to the pre-interventional 3D data record or a 3D model created therefrom. Subsequently, the fluorescing surface regions created by the injection may be tracked optically, (e.g., by the camera or the image data), whereby a movement updating of the registration of the preoperative 3D data record or of the 3D model generated therefrom may be achieved.

Because the image data may be recorded continually, (e.g., as a video stream), the registration may be continuously updated accordingly, (e.g., dynamically maintained), in particular in real time. In particular, the registration may also take place elastically, as described.

The embodiment or method described here is advantageously suitable, in particular, for short-notice or short-term applications and for application cases in which the blood flow of the organ, at least to the correspondingly marked tissue region, is interrupted, also for organs with a relatively low diffusion speed along the surface. In these cases, the registration or its updating may be carried out with relatively little effort, but still reliably, before the fluorescence dye may diffuse along the surface of the organ and thus before the marking or the detectability of the tissue boundary between the tissue regions may become blurred. It is particularly advantageous here as compared with conventional methods that no fluorescing markers (e.g., fiducials) are necessary, which may save costs and development effort.

In the second variant, that is, the intra-interventional or intraoperative recording of a magnetic resonance data record, (e.g., with a BOLD sequence or another sequence which makes the blood supply property within the organ visible), the second 3D data record may be used for a 3D-3D registration to the pre-interventional 3D image data record or the 3D model resulting therefrom. Here also, the multispectral tissue boundary on the surface of the organ may subsequently be optically tracked by the camera or the image data, in order to obtain a movement update of the registration.

In an advantageous embodiment, the medical imaging device is configured to receive or acquire a second 3D data record, which, like the image data, shows an intra-interventional state of the examination object. In particular, this may be the aforementioned second 3D data record. The medical imaging device is further configured, on the basis of a segmentation of the second 3D data record, (e.g., a segmentation of a boundary between the different imaging properties, a segmentation of the surface of the organ, and/or a segmentation of a vascular tree of the organ contrasted only in one of the tissue regions), to determine the corresponding tissue boundary between the tissue regions. The medical imaging device is further configured to use the thus determined tissue boundary as the corresponding tissue boundary in the 3D data record or a 3D model generated therefrom.

It may thus be provided that in the 3D data record, e.g., the tissue boundary, at least one boundary of the tissue regions or segments of the organ is estimated and this estimated tissue boundary is then discarded after the tissue boundary determined on the basis of the intra-interventionally recorded second 3D data record is available. It may thereby be provided that an elastic or deformable registration is carried out between the second 3D data record and the image data before the tissue boundary determined on the basis of the second 3D data record is transferred to the pre-interventional 3D data record or the 3D model generated therefrom. Equally, the corresponding distortion or elastic registration or registration updating may be carried out after the transfer between the image data and the correspondingly updated pre-interventional 3D data record.

Optionally, a segmentation and/or another visualization from the second 3D data record and/or the image data may be used in order to generate superpositions or a virtual model for an augmented image, that is, an AR representation.

The embodiment proposed here advantageously enables an extensive planning of the respective intervention on the basis of the preoperative or pre-interventional 3D data record without the respective patient having to wait during it, for example, prepared ready for the operation. At the same time, by the updating of the pre-interventional 3D data record which may be designated the first 3D data record, on the basis of the intra-interventionally recorded second 3D data record, in particular automatically, a particularly reliable three-dimensional visualization of the respective anatomical situation in the respective current position of the patient or the examination object may be offered to the relevant medical personnel. By this support, the respective intervention may then be carried out particularly safely and with a particularly high likelihood of success.

The three-dimensional anatomical situation may be particularly reliably reflected through the use of the second 3D data record for updating the pre-interventional first 3D data record or the 3D model generated therefrom if the image data includes only two-dimensional images, (e.g., camera images), which cannot represent a non-transparent internal volume of the organ.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the medical imaging device includes a display device. This display device may be a screen or an HMD, (e.g., an AR headset or the like). The medical imaging device is configured to generate automatically, from the 3D data record, the image data and/or the detected tissue boundary, an overlay image, (e.g., an image of the augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR) in which the two tissue regions are differently displayed). Furthermore, the medical imaging device is configured to output this overlay image by the display device. In the overlay image, therefore, for example, the 3D data record or a 3D model generated therefrom and the image data may be overlaid. The image data may be or include images from or with different spectral regions.

Equally, the tissue boundary or the tissue region delimited by the tissue boundary may be gathered from the image data, for example, by a corresponding, in particular automatic, segmentation and overlaid on the 3D data record. Equally, the overlay image may be an overlaying of the different individual images of the image data so that, for example, a fluorescence image which images or represents a fluorescence of one of the tissue regions in a non-visible spectral region and an optical image which represents or images the tissue regions in the optical spectral region are overlaid on one another to generate the overlay image. Therein optionally, additional virtual models or elements, for example, the 3D model generated from the 3D data record, may be inserted or overlaid. The overlay image may thus be, in particular, a mixture or a combination of three-dimensional and two-dimensional images or image contents. An overlay image of this type may advantageously offer a particularly comprehensive and content-rich support to the medical personnel.

A further aspect of the present disclosure is a method for supporting medical personnel. A method act of this method is an acquisition of a 3D image data record of an examination object generated by a first imaging modality. A further method act of the method is an acquisition of image data of the examination object generated by a second imaging modality different from the first imaging modality, wherein in the 3D data record and in the image data, at least one first tissue region of an organ and at least one second tissue region of the same organ are represented and the tissue regions have different imaging properties at least under the second imaging modality. A further act of the method is a detection of at least one tissue boundary between the first tissue region and the second tissue region in the image data on the basis of the different imaging properties. A further act of the method is a registration of the image data to the 3D image data record by alignment of the at least one detected tissue boundary to a corresponding tissue boundary of the 3D image data record and/or a performance of a movement compensation of a movement of the examination object occurring during the generation of the image data, on the basis of the at least one tissue boundary.

In other words, the method thus includes the measures, procedures, or sequences described in relation to the medical imaging device. Further procedures, measures or sequences cited in this regard may be regarded as, possibly optional, further method acts of the method.

A further aspect of the present disclosure is a computer program product, e.g., a program code, which includes commands or control instructions which on execution of the computer program product or program code by a computer, in particular, by the medical imaging device or its data processing facility, cause this computer to carry out at least one variant or embodiment of the method, in particular automatically or semi-automatically.

A further aspect of the present disclosure is a computer-readable storage medium on which at least one embodiment of the computer program product is stored.

In particular, it may be provided that the medical imaging device includes a computer-readable storage medium. The medical imaging device may thus be designed and configured in particular for, (e.g., automatic or semi-automatic), performance of at least one variant of the method. For this purpose, the medical imaging device may include a processor device, for example, a microprocessor, a microchip or a microcontroller, which is connected to the computer-readable storage medium and is configured to carry out the computer program product or program code stored thereon.

It should be noted at this point that any surgical acts or measures mentioned or indicated for illustration of the present disclosure are not part of the method. The present disclosure, in particular the method, is thus only claimed insofar as the disclosure or the method does not include any surgical act. This does not, however, hinder an executability or usability of the present disclosure, because the medical imaging device and the method may be used, just like the method, in parallel with an intervention or a surgical procedure, but may serve only for the, in particular automatic, support of the respective medical personnel and equally may be used, operated or carried out independently of the actually performed surgical acts on the basis of correspondingly provided data. Even if the method may advantageously be at least partially carried out during the aforementioned interventional procedure, it relates ultimately only to a corresponding control or a corresponding operation of the medical imaging device or of a corresponding data processing facility and not to the surgical acts possibly performed during the procedure or intervention.

The properties and developments stated above and in the following of the method, the medical imaging device, the method, the computer program product and the computer-readable storage medium, as well as the corresponding advantages are each analogously and reciprocally transferable between these aspects of the disclosure. Such developments of the imaging device, the method, the computer program and the computer-readable storage medium which have embodiments which, for the avoidance of unnecessary redundancy, are not explicitly described here in the respective combination or are not separately described for each of these aspects of the present disclosure, thus also belong to the disclosure.

