Task-specific uncertainty estimation for medical CT measurements

Abstract

Abstract. Computed tomography (CT) is an important imaging technology for medical diagnosis purposes. However, by improving the CT scanners with regard to scan resolution and times, the use of CT is no longer limited to the diagnostic field. Different minimally invasive procedures are image-guided. CT-based surgical navigation utilizes 3-D measurements. Therefore, uncertainties in the imaging and image processing lead to erroneous initial conditions for the navigation process and result in a higher risk of unintended injuries of anatomical risk structures. To minimize the risk of unintended injuries, the uncertainties of the imaging process need to be estimated and considered during the planning of minimally invasive surgery. The estimation of uncertainties for medical measurements is still at the beginning though. Within this contribution, we show that it is important to consider the uncertainty of different measurement tasks during surgical planning using the example of minimally invasive surgery to the lateral skull base. A method for the task-specific uncertainty estimation is used to estimate the uncertainties for defined measurement tasks. Afterwards, we will discuss how the results have to be considered during the surgical planning process.