Doctors to “feel” organs via a display screen

Wednesday 13th February 2008

A scientist at Sweden's Uppsala University is helping to develop new technology enabling radiologists to "feel" images with the help of a three-dimensional mouse.

Erik Vidholm, from the Centre for Image Analysis at Uppsala University, has used computerised image analysis in the project, which is hoped to make the diagnosis of and treatment of conditions such as cancer easier.

Computerised image analysis can determine the size of organs and construct three dimensional models of them prior to radiation or surgery.

The resulting images are of varying quality, so doctors themselves often mark the areas of interest in images and then let the computer do the rest of the work in rendering them.

Mr Vidholm has taken part in the development of such interactive methods, when the traditional mouse and keyboard combination is replaced by a pen-like, "haptic" three-dimensional mouse. Computer models are adapted to the images of organs, enabling doctors to measure their volumes and calculate changes.

"To get a greater sense of depth in the image we use stereo graphics. When the models are to be adapted to the images, this is done partly automatically on the basis of the content of the image and partly with the input of the user wielding the haptic pen," Mr Vidholm said.

Mr Vidholm, a PhD student, has also developed a technique for fast visualisation of complex images using modern graphics cards, a method which has applications in the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Most of these methods have been assembled in a software package that can be freely downloaded via the internet so that other researchers in medical image analysis can benefit from them. The package is available at: http://www.cb.uu.se/research/haptics

Centre for Image Analysis

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