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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
Book cover


Volume Rendering of Medical Scans in Virtual Reality

Translated title

Volume Rendering af Medicinske Skanninger i Virtual Reality

Author

Term

4. term

Education

Publication year

2018

Pages

42

Abstract

CT- og MR-scannere producerer en stak af 2D-billeder, som hver viser et snit gennem patienten. Læger gennemser disse snit enkeltvis eller side om side i forbindelse med diagnosticering eller planlægning af operation. Vi præsenterer et system, der kombinerer stakken af snit og ved hjælp af volumegengivelse viser en 3D-rekonstruktion af det scannede område i virtuel virkelighed. Systemet omfatter værktøjer til at udforske data: en menu med forudindstillede transfer functions—indstillinger, der omsætter volumendata til farve og gennemsigtighed (alpha)—samt et klippeplan, der kan tildele forskellige transfer functions til området over og under planet. Brugeren kan for eksempel vise hud nedenfor og skelet ovenfor eller gøre alt over planet helt gennemsigtigt for at få frit udsyn til et snit. Klippeplanet kan placeres og orienteres frit. En evaluering med sundhedspersonale viste, at deltagerne kunne stille en diagnose udelukkende på baggrund af det foreslåede system.

CT and MRI scanners produce a stack of 2D images, each showing a slice through the patient. Clinicians typically review these slices separately or side by side for diagnosis or surgical planning. We present a system that combines the slice stack into a 3D reconstruction of the scanned region and displays it in virtual reality using volume visualization. The system includes tools to explore the data: a menu with preset transfer functions—settings that map volume data to color and transparency (alpha)—and a clipping plane that can apply different transfer functions above and below the plane. For example, the user can show skin below the plane and the skeleton above it, or make everything above fully transparent to get an unobstructed view of a slice. The clipping plane can be positioned and oriented freely. In an evaluation with medical personnel, participants were able to diagnose a patient using only the proposed system.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]