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Immersive Virtual Reality for Visualization of Abdominal CT.

Posted by on Friday, February 15, 2013 in Abdomen Imaging, Virtual Reality.

Qiufeng Lin, Zhoubing Xu, Rebeccah Baucom, Benjamin Poulose, Bennett A. Landman, Robert E. Bodenheimer. “Immersive Virtual Reality for Visualization of Abdominal CT.” In Proceedings of the SPIE Medical Imaging Conference. Orlando, Florida, February 2013†

Full Text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3877248/

Abstract

Immersive virtual environments use a stereoscopic head-mounted display and data glove to create high fidelity virtual experiences in which users can interact with three-dimensional models and perceive relationships at their true scale. This stands in stark contrast to traditional PACS-based infrastructure in which images are viewed as stacks of two-dimensional slices, or, at best, disembodied renderings. Although there has substantial innovation in immersive virtual environments for entertainment and consumer media, these technologies have not been widely applied in clinical applications. Here, we consider potential applications of immersive virtual environments for ventral hernia patients with abdominal computed tomography imaging data. Nearly a half million ventral hernias occur in the United States each year, and hernia repair is the most commonly performed general surgery operation worldwide. A significant problem in these conditions is communicating the urgency, degree of severity, and impact of a hernia (and potential repair) on patient quality of life. Hernias are defined by ruptures in the abdominal wall (i.e., the absence of healthy tissues) rather than a growth (e.g., cancer); therefore, understanding a hernia necessitates understanding the entire abdomen. Our environment allows surgeons and patients to view body scans at scale and interact with these virtual models using a data glove. This visualization and interaction allows users to perceive the relationship between physical structures and medical imaging data. The system provides close integration of PACS-based CT data with immersive virtual environments and creates opportunities to study and optimize interfaces for patient communication, operative planning, and medical education.

Keywords: Medical visualization, immersive virtual reality, head-mounted displays, ventral hernia
Illustrations of the proposed system in use. (a) Surgeon using the system. (b) Virtual hand interacting with 3D abdominal model. (c) Navigation of axial slices. (d) Navigation of sagittal slices.
Illustrations of the proposed system in use. (a) Surgeon using the system. (b) Virtual hand interacting with 3D abdominal model. (c) Navigation of axial slices. (d) Navigation of sagittal slices.

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