Interventional video tomography

Interventional Video Tomography (IVT) is a new imaging modality for Image Directed Surgery to visualize in real-time intraoperatively the spatial position of surgical instruments relative to the patient's anatomy. The video imaging detector is based on a special camera equipped with an optical viewing and lighting system and electronic 3D sensors. When combined with an endoscope it is used for examining the inside of cavities or hollow organs of the body from many different angles. The surface topography of objects is reconstructed from a sequence of monocular video or endoscopic images. To increase accuracy and speed of the reconstruction the relative movement between objects and endoscope is continuously tracked by electronic sensors. The IVT image sequence represents a 4D data set in stereotactic space and contains image, surface topography and motion data. In ENT surgery an IVT image sequence of the planned and so far accessible surgical path is acquired prior to surgery. To simulate the surgical procedure the cross sectional imaging data is superimposed with the digitally stored IVT image sequence. During surgery the video sequence component of the IVT simulation is substituted by the live video source. The IVT technology makes obsolete the use of 3D digitizing probes for the patient image coordinate transformation. The image fusion of medical imaging data with live video sources is the first practical use of augmented reality in medicine. During surgery a head-up display is used to overlay real-time reformatted cross sectional imaging data with the live video image.