Abstract
PurposeWith the growing availability and variety of imaging modalities, new methods of intraoperative support have become available for all kinds of interventions. The basic principles of image fusion and image guidance have been widely adopted and are commercialized through a number of platforms. Although multimodal systems have been found to be useful for guiding interventional procedures, they all have their limitations. The integration of more advanced guidance techniques into the product functionality is, however, not easy due to the proprietary solutions of the vendors. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to introduce a software system for image fusion, real-time navigation, and working points documentation during transcatheter interventions performed under X-ray (XR) guidance.MethodsAn interactive software system for cross-modal registration and image fusion of XR fluoroscopy with CT or MRI-derived anatomic 3D models is implemented using Qt application framework and VTK visualization pipeline. DICOM data can be imported in retrospective mode. Live XR data input is realized by a video capture card application interface.ResultsThe actual software release offers a graphical user interface with basic functionality including data import and handling, calculation of projection geometry and transformations between related coordinate systems, rigid 3D-3D registration, and template matching-based tracking and motion compensation algorithms in 2D and 3D. The link to the actual software release on GitHub including source code and executable is provided to support independent research and development in the field of intervention guidance.ConclusionThe introduced system provides a common foundation for the rapid prototyping of new approaches in the field of XR fluoroscopic guidance. As a pure software solution, the developed system is potentially vendor-independent and can be easily extended to be used with the XR systems of different manufacturers.
Highlights
With the increased complexity of transcatheter interventions, the demand for improved guidance and navigation is steadily rising
Whereas big progress has been made in the field of US-guided interventions and electromagnetic tracking of the instruments inside the body [21, 28,29,30], there is a wide spectrum of clinical procedures performed under XR fluoroscopy-guidance exclusively without intraoperative US imaging
We introduce 3D-XGuide as an open-source software system dedicated to merging and visualization of the information from pre-interventional tomographic imaging and XR fluoroscopy in a common coordinate system, providing full flexibility on arbitrary C-arm angulation, zooming, and floating table manipulation
Summary
With the increased complexity of transcatheter interventions, the demand for improved guidance and navigation is steadily rising. Multiple independent research groups try to improve current IF visualization [13] and introduce more advanced guidance techniques, such as e.g., automatic crossmodal image registration [14,15,16,17,18], image-based tracking [14, 19], automatic compensation of heartbeat and respiratory motion [20,21,22] to overcome these specific issues To introduce these techniques into a product functionality is, not easy due to a proprietary character of commercial XR systems. Any additional 3D information which can be used to guide these procedures would be helpful and is highly appreciated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
