3D and multispectral imaging for subcutaneous veins detection

The first and perhaps most important phase of a surgical procedure is the insertion of an intravenous (IV) catheter. Currently, this is performed manually by trained personnel. In some visions of future operating rooms, however, this process is to be replaced by an automated system. Experiments to determine the best NIR wavelengths to optimize vein contrast for physiological differences such as skin tone and/or the presence of hair on the arm or wrist surface are presented. For illumination our system is composed of a mercury arc lamp coupled to a 10 nm bandpass spectrometer. A structured lighting system is also coupled to our multispectral system in order to provide 3D information of the patient arm orientation. Images of each patient arm are acquired under every possible combination of illuminants and the optimal combination of wavelengths for a given subject to maximize vein contrast using linear discriminant analysis is determined.