A three-dimensional visualization and navigation tool for diagnostic and surgical plannig applications

This study aims at providing the radiologist and the surgeon with a diagnostic and planning tool. To this end multimodal (T-1, T-2 and PD-weighted) sets of MR images representing a human head and a human knee with and without neoplastic formations were acquired. All the software was developed in C++ language using Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) and OpenGL Volumizer. It was tested on a Silicon Graphics OZ workstation. The medical user can rotate along the x-y-z axes the volume under investigation and zoom in and out the data, can make cuts of the set of images in all directions and display volume intersections with the three conventional anatomical planes. By enfolding the volume in a cube and by moving its apexes, the user can dig the volume. The surfaces of the anatomical districts can be visualized. The tool renders a composite volumetric image by using the false-colouring technique and it can combine morphological information of the surface and data about the nature of the volume by using the different distribution of the intensity levels of the pixels. It is also possible to set transparency to obtain an image representing simultaneously the 3D volume and its internal structure. The tool can display surface information and volume information at the same time and provides endo-navigation facility that helps the user to move into an anatomical district in order to find the correct position of potential lesions and the way to remove them.