Consumer-Grade Cameras and Other Approaches to Surface Imaging

Abstract

Clinical surface imaging systems designed for surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT) applications are expensive and standard configurations have a limited capacity for raw data export which can prohibit innovation, new uses, and new techniques for surface-guided applications. Fortunately, the recent emergence of low-cost consumer-grade depth cameras has enabled a new frontier of imagination and exploration of the use of surfaces in radiation therapy applications. Over the last decade, much clinical and research work has investigated the use of both laser scanning systems and RGB-depth sensors including the Microsoft Kinect camera (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA). Consumer-grade depth cameras have been used for respiratory motion management, patient identification, collision detection and avoidance, 3D printing applications, patient alignment, and image processing. This chapter reviews methods and results of consumer-grade depth camera applications for radiation therapy over recent years spanning computer vision, motion management, full room scanning, and collision avoidance applications.