A C-Arm Calibration Method with Application to Fluoroscopic Image-guided Procedures

C-arm fluoroscopy units provide continuously updating X-ray video images during surgical procedure. The modality is widely adopted for its low cost, real-time imaging capabilities, and its ability to display radio-opaque tools in the anatomy. It is, however, important to correct for fluoroscopic image distortion and estimate camera parameters, such as focal length and camera center, for registration with 3D CT scans in fluoroscopic image-guided procedures. This paper describes a method for C-arm calibration and evaluates its accuracy in multiple C-arm units and in different viewing orientations. The proposed calibration method employs a commercially-available unit to track the C-arm and a calibration plate. The method estimates both the internal calibration parameters and the transformation between the coordinate systems of tracker and C-arm. The method was successfully tested on two C-arm units (GE OEC 9800 and GE OEC 9800 Plus) of different image intensifier sizes and verified with a rigid airway phantom model. The mean distortion-model error was found to be 0.14 mm and 0.17 mm for the respective C-arms. The mean overall system reprojection error (which measures the accuracy of predicting an image using tracker coordinates) was found to be 0.63 mm for the GE OEC 9800.