Real-time tools for freehand 3D ultrasound

Abstract

One of the drawbacks of many 3D ultrasound systems is the two-stage nature of the process. The strict separation of data acquisition and visualisation disturbs the continuity of the ultrasound examination. Furthermore, some systems require the clinician to wait for an unacceptable amount of time while the voxel array is constructed. In this paper, we describe tools which allow arbitrary slices to be viewed through the 3D data set in real-time as the examination is taking place. This leads to a natural integration of the scanning and visualisation processes.