41st International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference
EMBC 2019
41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC 2019 July 2019
The IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society is pleased to announce the 41st International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, to be held in Berlin, Germany from July 23–27, 2019.
The overarching theme is “Biomedical engineering ranging from wellness to intensive care”.
The scientific tracks will cover the standard topics of the EMBS technical committees. Beside the scientific sessions, the congress exhibition will show biomedical companies, start-ups, biomedical institutes, universities, and provide networking opportunities for engineers, clinicians, other scientists, entrepreneurs and students.
Cutting-edge research and innovation in biomedical engineering, healthcare technology and medical informatics will all be covered in this large conference.
Our partners from UPC- Universitat Politècnica De Catalunya presented the SARAS project at the Technical Program Saturday July 27, 2019 09:30-09:45, with the Paper: Vision Based Robot Assistance in TTTS Fetal Surgery
About the Paper:
This paper presents an accurate and robust tracking vision algorithm for Fetoscopic Laser Photo-coagulation (FLP) surgery for Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). The aim of the proposed method is to assist surgeons during anastomosis localization, coagulation and review using a tele-operated robotic system. The algorithm computes the relative position of the fetoscope tool tip with respect to the placenta, via local vascular structure registration. The algorithm uses image features (local superficial vascular structures of the placenta’s surface) to automatically match consecutive fetoscopic images. It is composed of three sequential steps: image processing (filtering, binarization and vascular structures segmentation); relevant Points Of Interest (POIs) seletion; and image registration between consecutive images. The algorithm has to deal with the low quality of fetoscopic images, the liquid and dirty environment inside the placenta jointly with the thin diameter of the fetoscope optics and low amount of environment light reduces the image quality. The obtained images are blurred, noisy and with very poor color components. The tracking system has been tested using real video sequences of FLP surgery for TTTS. The computational performance enables real time tracking, locally guiding the robot over the placenta’s surface with enough accuracy.
About the authors:
| Sayols, Narcís | Universitat Politècnica De Catalunya |
| Hernansanz, Albert | Technical University of Catalonia |
| Parra, Johanna | Fetal i+D Fetal Medicine Research Center, BCNatal |
| Eixarch, Elisenda | BCNatal, Hospital Clı́nic, Hospital Sant Joan De Déu |
| Gratacós, Eduard | Fetal i+D Fetal Medicine Research Center, BCNatal – Barcelona Ce |
| Amat, Josep | Universitat Politècnica De Catalunya, Barcelona Tech |
| Casals, Alicia | Center of Research in Biomedical Engineering, Universitat Politè |