Image Synthesis Using a Mini Gamma Camera and Stereo Optical Cameras

We have previously developed a method that combines a mini gamma camera with an optical camera to synthesize the two kinds of images and help surgeons to easily identify sentinel lymph nodes on the gastric surface in cancer resection surgery. Since we assumed in this method that the object surface is flat, its application was limited. In this article, we extend this method so as to estimate the three-dimensional shape of the object from stereo optical cameras. A prototype system with a mini gamma camera and two optical cameras was constructed and a preliminary experiment with a rigid machine-made phantom was performed. From comparison with results obtained by the previous method, we confirmed the effectiveness of using the three-dimensional shape.