A sketch-based interface for 2D illustration of vascular structures, diseases, and treatment options with real-time blood flow

Abstract

We present a sketching interface, which enables physicians to illustrate various vascular structures, diseases, and treatment options with integrated blood flow. This sketch-based interface provides medical doctors with an effective tool to illustrate different medical scenarios and support patient education. This work integrates methods from sketchbased interfaces and GPU-supported computational fluid dynamics. The usability of the prototype was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. Additionally, we performed a structured interview with a physician to evaluate the benefits with respect to patient education. The results of the evaluation confirmed the usability of the prototype as well as the usefulness to support physicians during the process of patient education.