From Success Stories in Scientific Visualization Wiki
This visualization shows the user interface for a virtual colonoscopy (VC) system. VC employs computed tomography (CT) scanning and volume visualization, and is poised to become the procedure of choice in lieu of the conventional optical colonoscopy for mass screening for colon polyps – the precursor of colorectal cancer. The patient’s abdomen is imaged by a helical CT scanner during a single-breath-hold. A 3D model of the patient’s colon is then reconstructed from the CT scan by automatically segmenting the colon out of the abdomen followed by electronic cleansing – computer-based removal of residual material in the colon. The system, running on a PC, allows physicians to interactively navigate through the colon and view the inner surface using volume rendering, with tools for measurements, electronic biopsy, to inspect suspicious regions, as well as painting already seen areas to help in visualizing 100% of the surface. The interface shown above provides multiple linked views: 2D axial, sagittal and coronal views (right); an oblique slice perpendicular to the colon centerline (middle left); an outside 3D colon model with current virtual position and orientation, bookmarks of suspicious regions, and the centerline in green (upper left); volume rendered endoscopic view with the centerline and a polyp (center); and a flattened volume rendered biopsy view (left). Unlike optical colonoscopy, VC is a patient friendly, fast, non-invasive, more accurate, inexpensive procedure. Grant-funded university research of VC at Stony Brook University (SUNY) led to a license to Viatronix Inc. that has installed the technology in numerous sites by which the lives of hundreds of patients have been saved. VC has been extended to 3D virtual endoscopy of other organs, such as the heart, arteries, lungs, stomach, and bladder. The primary future challenge in VC is in the development of computer-aided detection (CAD) of colonic polyps.
L. Hong, S. Muraki, A. Kaufman, D. Bartz, and T. He, "Virtual voyage: Interactive navigation in the human colon," Proc SIGGRAPH 1997, pp. 27-34
