Virtual Endoscopy and Medical Mixed Reality

1987

• W. Lorensen and H. Cline:
  "Marching cubes: a high resolution 3D surface construction algorithm",
  In Proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH, pp. 163-169, 1987.
  Marching Cubes is the standard algorithm for the extraction of polygonal meshes from volume datasets given a certain iso-value.
  
  

  1992

• M. Bajura, H. Fuchs, and R. Ohbuchi: ,
  "Merging Virtual Objects with the Real World: Seeing Ultrasound Imagery Within the Patient",
  In Proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH, Chicago, July 1992.
  Describes a mixed reality system that renders ultrasound data of a pregnant woman together with a vvideo stream with a Head-Mounted-Display (HMD).
  

  1996

• A. State, M. Livingston, G. Hirota, W. Garrett, M. Whitton, H. Fuchs, and E. Pisano: ,
  "Technologies for augmented reality systems: realizing ultrasound-guided needle biopsies",
  In Proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH, New Orleans, August 1996.
  Combines ultrasound, tracking, and HMDs to improve needle biopsy.
  

  1997

• L. Hong, S. Muraki, A. Kaufman, D. Bartz, and T. He:
  "Virtual Voyage: Interactive Navigation in the Human Colon",
  In Proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, pp. 27-34, August 1997.
  Describes a complete system for virtual endoscopy of the colon, including segmentation, centerline extraction, and navigation, using polygonal rendering with occlusion culling.
  
  

  1998

• E. Gobbetti, P. Pili, A. Zorcolo, and M. Tuveri:
  " Interactive Virtual Angioscopy",
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, Triangle Research Park, pp. 435-438, 1998.
  Virtual endoscopy of vascular systems using 3D texture mapping.

  1999

• D. Bartz and M. Meißner:
  " Voxels versus Polygons: A Comparative Approach for Volume Graphics",
  In Proc. of Volume Graphics (VG'99), Swansea, 1999.
  Comparison of MarchingCubes and RayCasting.
• D. Bartz, M. Skalej:
  "VIVENDI - A Virtual Ventricle Endoscopy System for Virtual Medicine.",
  In Proc. of Eurographics/IEEE TVCG Symposium on Visualization, Wien, 1999.
  Advanced virtual endoscopy system of arbitary organ system. Reduced preprocessing times of previous Hong paper from many hours to a few minutes by improving data structures. Occlusion culling approach is no longer depending on tube-like structure.
• A. Vilanova Bartroli, A. König, and E. Gröller:
  "VirEn: Virtual Endoscopy System",
  In Machine Graphics and Vision, 8(3), pp. 469-487, 1999.
  Paper that describes the TU Wien virtual endoscopy system.
• M. Wan, Q. Tang, A. Kaufman, Z. Liang, and M. Wax:
  "Volume rendering based interactive navigation within the human colon",
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, San Francisco, pp. 397-400, 1999.
  Describes an effective space leaping scheme for raycasting using distance volumes, most suitably used in hollow objects.
• P. Rogalla:
  "Virtual Endoscopy: An Application Snapshot",
  In Medical Mundi, Philips Medical Systems, 43(1), pp. 17-23, 1999.
  Describes a variety of clinical applications from clinician point of view.
• P. Edwards, A. Strong, C. Chandler, A. Richards, et al.:
  Design and Evaluation of a System for Microscope-Assisted Guided Interventions (MAGI)",
  In Proc. of MICCAI, Cambridge, UK,, 1999.
  Describes a mixed reality system for an OR-microscope.

  2000

• I. Bitter, M. Sato, M. Bender, K. T. McDonnell, A. Kaufman, and M. Wan:
  "CEASAR: a smooth, accurate and robust centerline extraction algorithm,"
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, Salt Lake City, pp. 45-52, October 2000.
  Presents a system for centerline extraction in long hollow objects, similar to the one in Hong et al., 1997.
  
  
• S. Lakare, M. Wan, M. Sato, and A. Kaufman:
  "3D Digital Cleansing Using Segmentation Rays"
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, Salt Lake City, pp. 37-44, October 2000.
  Describes a technique to remove residual materials, such as stool and fluid, from the colon lumen.
  
  
• M. Meißner, J. Huang, D. Bartz, K. Mueller, and R. Crawfis:
  "A Practical Evaluation of Four Popular Volume Rendering Algorithms",
  In Proc. of ACM Symposium on Volume Visualization, Salt Lake City, 2000.
  Comparison of Ray Casting, Splatting, 3D Texture Mapping, and Shear-Warp factorization for volume rendering.
• R. Wegenkittl, A. Vilanova Bartroli, B. Hegedüs, D. Wagner, M. Freund, E. Gröller:
  "Mastering Interactive Virtual Bronchioscopy on a Low--End PC",
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, San Francisco, 2000.
  Describes virtual bronchoscopy system using a viewing and navigation paradigm similar to QuickTime-VR.
• W. Birkfellner, K. Huber, F. Watzing, et al.:
  "Development of the Varioscope AR, A See-Through HMD for Computer-Aided Surger",
  In Proc. of IEEE/ACM ISAR, München, 2000.
  Describes an HMD simulating an OR-Microscope.
• D. Dey, P. Slomka, D. Gobbi, and T. Peters:
  "Mixed Reality Merging of Endoscopic Images and 3-D Surfaces",
  In Proc. of MICCAI, Pittsburgh, 2000.
  Describes a mixed reality system that combines endoscopic images and patient data.

  2001

• D. Bartz, Ö. Gürvit, M. Lanzendörfer, A. Kopp, A. Küttner, and W. Straßer:
  "Virtual Endoscopy for Cardio Vascular Exploration",
  In Proc. of Computer Aided Radiology and Surgery (CARS 2001), Berlin, 2001.
  Describes how to explore cardio-vascular datasets with virtual endoscopy.
• D. Bartz, W. Straßer, Ö.. Gürvit, D. Freudenstein, and M. Skalej:
  "Interactive and Multi-modal Visualization for Neuroendoscopic Interventions",
  In Proc. of Eurographics/IEEE TVCG Symposium on Visualization, Ascona, 2001.
  Describes data fusion methods for the multi-modal representations in virtual neuro-endoscopy.
• D. Nain, S. Haker, R. Kikinis, and E. Grimson:
  "Interactive Medical Image Visualization and Analysis",
  In Proc. of IMIVA workshop, 2001.
  Desribes virtual endoscopy module for 3D Slicer.
• A. Vilanova Bartroli, R. Wegenkittl, A. König, E. Gröller:
  "Virtual Colon Flattening",
  In Proc. of Eurographics/IEEE TVCG Symposium on Visualization, Ascona, 2001.
  Virtual colonoscopy approach that unfolds tubular colon into a flat sheet.
• A. Vilanova Bartroli, R. Wegenkittl, A. König, E. Gröller:
  "Nonlinear Virtual Colon Unfolding",
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, San Diego, 2001.
  Alternative virtual colonoscopy approach that unfolds tubular colon into a flat sheet.
• M. Wan, F. Dachille, K. Kreeger, S. Lakare, A. E. Kaufman, M. Wax, and J. Z. Liang:
  "Interactive electronic biopsy for 3D virtual colonscopy",
  In Proc. of SPIE Medical Imaging, Vol. 4321, pp. 483-488, February 2001.
  Describes a technique that uses translucent volume rendering to peek inside the colon wall, to reveal the interior structure of polyps and other wall constituents.
• M. Figl, W. Birkfellner, J. Hummel, et al.:
  "Current Status of the Varioscope AR, A Head-Mounted Operating Microscope for Computer-Aided Surgery",
  In Proc. of IEEE/ACM ISAR, 2001.
  Describes advances of Varioscope AR (see Birkfellner 2000).
• F. Sauer and A. Khamene, B. Bascle, L. Schimmang, F. Wenzel, and S. Vogt:
  "Augmented Reality Visualization of Ultrasound Images: System Description, Calibration, and Features",
  In Proc. of IEEE/ACM ISAR, 2001.
  Describes a mixed reality system for ultrasound data and HMDs.

  2002

• D. Freudenstein, A. Wagner, Ö. Gürvit, D. Bartz, and F. Duffner:
  "Simultaneous Virtual Representation of Both Vascular And Neural Tissue Within
  the Subarachnoid Space of the Basal Cistern - Technical Note",
  Medical Science Monitor, Vol 8, No. 9, 2002.
  Case study on how virtual endoscopy can be used to resolve pathological locations of blood vessels.
• B. Schwald, H. Seibert, and T. Weller:
  "A Flexible Tracking Concept Applied to Medical Scenarios Using an AR Window",
  In Proc. of IEE/ACM ISMAR, Darmstadt, 2002.
  Describes the MEDARPA video-see-through display.

2003

• D. Bartz:
  Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der virtuellen Endoskopie",
  In Proc. of Simulation und Visualisierung, Magdeburg, 2003. (German only)
  Analysis of artifacts and limitations of medical imaging and virtual endoscopy.
• D. Bartz, D. Mayer, J. Fischer, S. Ley, A. del Rio, S. Thust, C. Heussel, H. Kauczor, and W. Straßer:
  "Hybrid Segmentation and Exploration of the Human Lungs",
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, Seattle, 2003.
  Segmentation techniques and virtual endoscopy of the airways.
• S. Lakare and A. Kaufman:
  "Anti-Aliased Volume Extraction,"
  Eurographics/IEEE TCVG Symposium on Visualization, pp. 113 - 122, May 2003.
  Presents a technique that restores smooth surfaces and gradients in remaining volumetric objects after removing adjoining ones.
• A. del Rio, D. Bartz, R. Jäger, Ö. Gürvit, and D. Freudenstein:
  "Efficient Stereoscopic Rendering in Virtual Endoscopy Applications".
  In Proc. of WSCG, Plzen, 2003.
  On stereoscopic rendering for virtual endoscopy.
  
• M. Scheuering, A. Schenk, A. Schneider, B. Preim and G. Greiner:
  "Intraoperative Augmented Reality for Minimally Invasive Liver Interventions,",
  In Proc. of SPIE Medical Imaging, San Diego, 2003.
  Describes the combination pre-operative prepared and endoscopic data for liver surgery.
• M. Scheuering, U. Labsik, C. Vogelsang, and G. Greiner:
  "Fusion von Freihand-Videosequenzen mit triangulierten Oberflächen zur 3D-Szenen­exploration in der Medizin",
  In Proc. of Simulation und Visualisierung, Magdeburg, 2003. (German only)
  Desribes the fusion of video-sequences with 3D geometry.
• A. Bornik, R. Beichel, B. Reiting, et al.:
  "Computer-aided Liver Surgery Planning: An Augmented Reality Approach",
  In Proc. of SPIE Medical Imaging, San Diego, 2003.
  Desribes a mixed reality system for the planning of liver surgery.

  2004

• D. Mayer, D. Bartz, J. Fischer, S. Ley, Á. del Río, S. Thust, HU. Kauczor, W. Straßer, CP. Heussel:
  " Hybrid Segmentation and Virtual Bronchoscopy based on CT Images",
  In Academic Radiology, 11(5), 2004.
  Segmentation of airways based on CT data. Also includes study on effectiveness.
• A. Neubauer, S. Wolfsberger, M. Forster, L. Mroz, R. Wegenkittl, and K. Bühler:
  " STEPS - An Application for Simulation of Transsphenoidal Endonasal Pituitary Surgery",
  In Proc. of IEEE Visualization, Austin, 2004.
  Describes a system for pituitary surgery that employs some simulation, haptics, and virtual endoscopy techniques.
• J. Fischer, M. Neff, D. Bartz, and W. Straßer:
  " Medical Augmented Reality based on Commercial Image Guided Surgery",
  In Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments, Grenoble, 2004.
  Describes a mixed reality system based on a commerial medical tracking system and simple off-the-self components.
• J. Fischer, D. Bartz, and W. Straßer:
  "Occlusion Handling for Medical Augmented Reality Using a Volumetric Phantom Model",
  In ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Applications, Hong Kong, 2004.
  Describes occlusion handling for a mixed reality system.

2004

• D. Bartz:
  "Virtual Endoscopy in Research and Clinical Practice",
  In Computer Graphics Forum, 24(1), 2005.