A novel cyber physical system for 3-D imaging of the small intestine in vivo

Small intestine is the longest organ in the gastrointestinal tract where much of the digestion and the food absorption take place. Wireless video capsule endoscope (VCE) is the first device taking 2-D pictures from the lesions and the abnormalities in the entire length of the small intestine. Since precise localization and mapping inside the small intestine is a very challenging problem, we cannot measure the distance traveled by the VCE to associate lesions and abnormalities to locations inside the small intestine, and we cannot use the 2-D pictures to reconstruct the 3-D image of interior of the entire small intestine in vivo. This paper presents the architectural concept of a novel cyber physical system (CPS), which can utilize the 2-D pictures of the small intestine taken by the VCE to reconstruct the 3-D image of the small intestine in vivo. Hybrid localization and mapping techniques with millimetric accuracy for inside the small intestine is presented as an enabling technology to facilitate the reconstruction of 3-D images from the 2-D pictures. The proposed CPS architecture provides for large-scale virtual experimentations inside the human body without intruding the body with a sizable equipment using reasonable clinical experiments for validation. The 3-D imaging of the small intestine in vivo allows a lesion to be pinpointed for follow-up diagnosis and/or treatment and the abnormalities may be observed from different angles in 3-D images for more thorough examination.

Duke Scholars

Author Vahid Tarokh Electrical and Computer Engineering