3D display aids medical research

07 Apr 2004

Actuality Systems’ latest full-color display will help doctors view crucial medical images in three dimensions.

Actuality Systems has unveiled an interactive display that combines a series of cross-sectional scans into a single image. Called the Perspecta Medical, the final image is projected into the display’s 20 inch dome where it can be viewed in full color and in three dimensions from every vantage point.

3D display

“Perspecta Medical is unlike anything the medical community has seen before,” said Cameron Lewis, Actuality’s president. “It changes the concept of visualising an image from a series of slices into seeing the entire scan – all the images, all at once, combined into an entire series in 3D space. The doctor benefits from easier interpretation and more accurate identification.”

The firm says its Perspecta Medical, which plugs into a computer, can project data from CT, MRI and PET scans into a single image. It could be used by a radiologist to view the exact location of a tumor on a CT scan or a mammogram, or by a surgical team for precise planning and positioning before surgery or radiation treatment.

The product combines Actuality’s core Perspecta technology (see related stories) with some clever software. According to Actuality, its software provides a DICOM-viewer interface that provides coronal,* axial and sagittal** views. It also features a zoom function to magnify the image if required.

Perspecta Medical is being offered to certain medical institutions as a research tool. The firm hopes that new applications will emerge from these trials.

Actuality stresses that the product has not received FDA approval and is not intended for use in clinical diagnosis. It adds that the display cannot be used to prevent or treat disease.

* The coronal plane divides the body vertically from back to front.

** The sagittal plane divides the body vertically into right and left halves.

Author
Jacqueline Hewett is technology editor on Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.