14 January 2010

A Virtual Liver

Medical imaging of organs and tissues has contributed greatly to diagnosis and therapy planning, especially in the treatment of cancers, which are the major cause of deaths worldwide. However the 2D scanning images possible until now have been difficult to interpret, and it has not been possible to consult others who are not present in person. The EUREKA project Odysseus has developed software for 3D-imaging of the blood vessels of a patient’s liver which has materially advanced medical understanding of how the liver is segmented. The 3D modelling has shown that up to 50% of patients have a significantly different liver structure from the Couinaud description.

Virtual Patient Modelling (VR-Anat, formerly known as 3D-VPM) uses patient-specific data to enable preoperative assessment. Diagnosis and Virtual Planning (VR Planning, formerly 3D DVP) is software which enables navigation and tool positioning within 3D images that can be reconstructed from any multimedia equipped computer. The unlimited laparoscopic simulator (ULIS) and the robotic surgery simulator (SEP Robot) added realistic physical properties of texture and tissue resistance to the 3D model of the patient, allowing surgical intervention to be simulated before real surgery.

More information:

http://www.eurekanetwork.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=019bd807-5ef3-4bfd-a8bc-7b153f59d36c&groupId=10137