Computation of efficient patient specific models from 3-D medical images: Use in virtual endoscopy and surgery rehearsal

Abstract

Virtual reality environments provide highly interactive, natural control of the visualization process, significantly enhancing the scientific value of the data produced by medical imaging systems. Due to the computational and real time display update requirements of virtual reality interfaces, however, the complexity of organ and tissue surfaces which can be displayed is limited. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for the production of a polygonal surface containing a pre-specified number of polygons, from patient or subject specific volumetric image data, selected to optimize the trade-off between surface detail and real time display rates of anatomic models. To illustrate the utility of these models we also present a brief overview of their application in virtual endoscopy and surgery rehearsal.