The focus of the project is on the visualization of medical ultrasound data. Ultrasound is a very important clinical imaging tool that is extensively used by medical doctors all around the world. For non-experts and also sometimes for experts, the ultrasound images are hard to understand, leading to special challenges in the communication between medical doctors and their patients. The vision of the IllustraSound project is to provide new visualization technology to address the readability problem by enriching the ultrasound data with other types of medical data. On top of the ultrasound images, intuitive illustrative renderings are added, so that the patient (or doctor) can get a better understanding of the images. The IllustraSound-project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council (Project nr: 193170) and is researched at the Visualization Group in the Department of Informatics at the University of Bergen. The project started september 2009 and ran til 2012.
Downloads
Feel free to download the open source Illustrasound prototype. It contains source files and all the required libraries for running the binaries on Win32 platform. Additionally the demonstration bundle contains one exemplary dataset and a document describing how to obtain the Couinaud-enhanced liver examination using the technologies that were the research outcome of the Illustrasound research project.
Publications
2013
![[PDF]](https://vis.uib.no/wp-content/plugins/papercite/img/pdf.png)
[Bibtex] @PHDTHESIS {birkeland13thesis,
author = "{\AA}smund Rognerud Birkeland",
title = "Ultrasonic Vessel Visualization: From Extraction to Perception",
school = "Department of Informatics, University of Bergen, Norway",
year = "2013",
month = "March",
abstract = "Ultrasound is one of the most frequently used imaging modalities in modern medicine. The high versatility and availability of ultrasound workstations is applied in various medical scenarios, such as diagnosis, treatment planning, intra-operative imaging, and more. Modern ultrasound workstations provide live imaging of anatomical structures, as well as physiological processes, such as blood flow. However, the imaging technique have a high presence of noise, a small scan sector, and are much affected by attenuation artefacts. Thus, traditional techniques for segmentation and visualization are not applicable to ultrasound data. In this theses, we present our latest advancements in segmentation and visualization techniques, tailored specifically for the characteristics of ultrasound data. We present new methods for interactive vessel segmentation for both 3D freehand and 4D ultrasound. By directly involving the examiner in the segmentation approach as well as combining data from different probe viewpoints, we are able to obtain 3D models of blood vessels rapidly and robustly. With the ability of robust vessel extraction, we introduce novel visualization techniques which utilize the previously acquired 3D vessel models. For anatomical imaging, we present a new physics-based approach for volume clipping, enhanced slice rendering and even defining curved Couinaud-surfaces. The technique creates a deformable membrane to adapt to structures in the underlying data, defined either by predefined segmentation, iso-values, or other data attributes. For functional imaging, medical ultrasound can use the Doppler principle to image blood flow. However, Doppler ultrasound only measures a projected velocity magnitude of the data. In this thesis, we present a technique that uses the direction of the blood vessels in order to reconstruct 3D blood flow from Doppler ultrasound. By extending Doppler ultrasound with this directional information, we are able to apply traditional flow visualization techniques for displaying the blood flow. Finally, we investigated the usage of moving particles as a means to depict velocity in flow visualization. Based on a series of studies targeted for motion perception, we present a new compensation model to correct for distortions in the human visual system. This model can help users to make a more consistent estimation of velocities from evaluating the motion of particles. ",
pdf = "pdfs/birkeland13thesis.pdf",
images = "images/birkeland13thesis.png",
thumbnails = "images/birkeland13thesis_thumb.png",
isbn = "?? ",
project = "illustrasound, medviz, illvis"
}@INPROCEEDINGS {Birkeland13Doppler,
author = "{\AA}smund Birkeland and Dag Magne Ulvang and Kim Nylund and Trygve Hausken and Odd Helge Gilja and Ivan Viola",
title = "Doppler-based 3D Blood Flow Imaging and Visualization",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 29th Spring Conference on Computer Graphics",
year = "2013",
abstract = "Blood flow is a very important part of human physiology. In this paper, we present a new method for estimating and visualizing 3D blood flow on-the-fly based on Doppler ultrasound. We add semantic information about the geometry of the blood vessels in order to recreate the actual velocities of the blood. Assuming a laminar flow, the flow direction is related to the general direction of the vessel. Based on the center line of the vessel, we create a vector field representing the direction of the vessel at any given point. The actual flow velocity is then estimated from the Doppler ultrasound signal by back-projecting the velocity in the measured direction, onto the vessel direction. Additionally, we estimate the flux at user-selected cross-sections of the vessel by integrating the velocities over the area of the cross- section. In order to visualize the flow and the flux, we propose a visualization design based on traced particles colored by the flux. The velocities are visualized by animating particles in the flow field. Further, we propose a novel particle velocity legend as a means for the user to estimate the numerical value of the current velocity. Finally, we perform an evaluation of the technique where the accuracy of the velocity estimation is measured using a 4D MRI dataset as a basis for the ground truth.",
pdf = "pdfs/Birkeland13Doppler.pdf",
images = "images/Birkeland13Doppler01.png, images/Birkeland13Doppler02.png",
thumbnails = "images/Birkeland13Doppler01_thumb.png, images/Birkeland13Doppler02_thumb.png",
project = "illustrasound,medviz,illvis"
}![[DOI]](https://vis.uib.no/wp-content/plugins/papercite/img/external.png){kind=small}
[Bibtex] @INPROCEEDINGS {Viola2013Dirk,
author = "Ivan Viola and {\AA},smund Birkeland and Veronika \v{S},olt{\'e},szov{\'a}, and Linn Helljesen and Helwig Hauser and Spiros Kotopoulis and Kim Nylund and Dag M. Ulvang and Ola K. {\O }ye and Trygve Hausken and Odd H. Gilja",
title = "High-Quality 3{D} Visualization of In-Situ Ultrasonography",
booktitle = "EG 2013---Dirk Bartz Prize",
year = "2013",
pages = "1-4",
abstract = "In recent years medical ultrasound has experienced a rapid development in the quality of real-time 3D ultrasound (US) imaging. The image quality of the 3D volume that was previously possible to achieve within the range of a few seconds, is now possible in a fraction of a second. This technological advance offers entirely new opportunities for the use of US in the clinic. In our project, we investigate how real-time 3D US can be combined with high-performance processing of today's graphics hardware to allow for high-quality 3D visualization and precise navigation during the examination. ",
images = "images/2013-05-08-DirkBartzPrizeComb.jpg",
thumbnails = "images/2013-05-08-DirkBartzPrizeComb.jpg",
doi = "10.2312/conf/EG2013/med/001-004",
url = "http://diglib.eg.org/EG/DL/conf/EG2013/med/001-004.pdf.abstract.pdf;internal\&action=action.digitallibrary.ShowPaperAbstract",
project = "illustrasound,medviz,illvis"
}2012
[Bibtex] @ARTICLE {Helljesen12Klinisk,
author = "Linn Emilie S{\ae}vil Helljesen and Spiros Kotopoulis and Kim Nylund and Ivan Viola and Trygve Hausken and Odd Helge Gilja",
title = "Klinisk bruk av 3D-ultralyd",
journal = "Kirurgen",
year = "2012",
volume = "2",
pages = "118--120",
month = "June",
pdf = "pdfs/Helljesen12Klinisk.pdf",
images = "images/Helljesen12Klinisk01.png, images/Helljesen12Klinisk02.png",
thumbnails = "images/Helljesen12Klinisk01_thumb.png, images/Helljesen12Klinisk02_thumb.png",
url = "http://www.kirurgen.no/fagstoff/teknologiutvikling/klinisk-bruk-av-3d-ultralyd",
project = "illustrasound,medviz"
} [Bibtex]
@ARTICLE {Birkeland12TheUltrasound,
author = "{\AA}smund Birkeland and Veronika \v{S}olt{\'e}szov{\'a} and Dieter H{\"o}nigmann and Odd Helge Gilja and Svein Brekke and Timo Ropinski and Ivan Viola",
title = "The Ultrasound Visualization Pipeline - A Survey",
journal = "CoRR",
year = "2012",
volume = "abs/1206.3975",
abstract = "Ultrasound is one of the most frequently used imaging modality in medicine. The high spatial resolution, its interactive nature and non-invasiveness makes it the first choice in many examinations. Image interpretation is one of ultrasounds main challenges. Much training is required to obtain a confident skill level in ultrasound-based diagnostics. State-of-the-art graphics techniques is needed to provide meaningful visualizations of ultrasound in real-time. In this paper we present the process-pipeline for ultrasound visualization, including an overview of the tasks performed in the specific steps. To provide an insight into the trends of ultrasound visualization research, we have selected a set of significant publications and divided them into a technique-based taxonomy covering the topics pre-processing, segmentation, registration, rendering and augmented reality. For the different technique types we discuss the difference between ultrasound-based techniques and techniques for other modalities.",
images = "images/Birkeland2012TheUltrasound.png",
thumbnails = "images/Birkeland2012TheUltrasound_thumb.png",
url = "http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.3975",
project = "illustrasound,medviz,illvis"
}![[VID]](https://vis.uib.no/wp-content/papercite-data/images/video.png)
![[YT]](https://vis.uib.no/wp-content/papercite-data/images/youtube.png)
[Bibtex] @ARTICLE {Birkeland-2012-IMC,
author = "{\AA}smund Birkeland and Stefan Bruckner and Andrea Brambilla and Ivan Viola",
title = "Illustrative Membrane Clipping",
journal = "Computer Graphics Forum",
year = "2012",
volume = "31",
number = "3",
pages = "905--914",
month = "jun",
abstract = "Clipping is a fast, common technique for resolving occlusions. It only requires simple interaction, is easily understandable, and thus has been very popular for volume exploration. However, a drawback of clipping is that the technique indiscriminately cuts through features. Illustrators, for example, consider the structures in the vicinity of the cut when visualizing complex spatial data and make sure that smaller structures near the clipping plane are kept in the image and not cut into fragments. In this paper we present a new technique, which combines the simple clipping interaction with automated selective feature preservation using an elastic membrane. In order to prevent cutting objects near the clipping plane, the deformable membrane uses underlying data properties to adjust itself to salient structures. To achieve this behaviour, we translate data attributes into a potential field which acts on the membrane, thus moving the problem of deformation into the soft-body dynamics domain. This allows us to exploit existing GPU-based physics libraries which achieve interactive frame rates. For manual adjustment, the user can insert additional potential fields, as well as pinning the membrane to interesting areas. We demonstrate that our method can act as a flexible and non-invasive replacement of traditional clipping planes.",
pdf = "pdfs/Birkeland-2012-IMC.pdf",
vid = "vids/Birkeland12Illustrative.avi",
images = "images/Birkeland12Illustrative01.png, images/Birkeland12Illustrative02.png, images/Birkeland12Illustrative03.png",
thumbnails = "images/Birkeland-2012-IMC.png",
youtube = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I89_--zul6c",
note = "presented at EuroVis 2012",
doi = "10.1111/j.1467-8659.2012.03083.x",
event = "EuroVis 2012",
keywords = "clipping, volume rendering, illustrative visualization",
location = "Vienna, Austria",
project = "illustrasound,medviz,illvis",
url = "http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2012/Birkeland-2012-IMC/"
}@INPROCEEDINGS {Solteszova12Stylized,
author = "Veronika \v{S}olt{\'e}szov{\'a} and Ruben Patel and Helwig Hauser and Ivanko Viola",
title = "Stylized Volume Visualization of Streamed Sonar Data",
booktitle = "Proceedings of Spring Conference on Computer Graphics (SCCG 2012)",
year = "2012",
pages = "13--20",
month = "May",
abstract = "Current visualization technology implemented in the software for 2D sonars used in marine research is limited to slicing whilst volume visualization is only possible as post processing. We designed and implemented a system which allows for instantaneous volume visualization of streamed scans from 2D sonars without prior resampling to a voxel grid. The volume is formed by a set of most recent scans which are being stored. We transform each scan using its associated transformations to the view-space and slice their bounding box by view-aligned planes. Each slicing plane is reconstructed from the underlying scans and directly used for slice-based volume rendering. We integrated a low frequency illumination model which enhances the depth perception of noisy acoustic measurements. While we visualize the 2D data and time as 3D volumes, the temporal dimension is not intuitively communicated. Therefore, we introduce a concept of temporal outlines. Our system is a result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between visualization and marine scientists. The application of our system was evaluated by independent domain experts who were not involved in the design process in order to determine real life applicability.",
pdf = "pdfs/Solteszova12Stylized.pdf",
vid = "vids/Solteszova12Stylized.mp4",
images = "images/Solteszova12Stylized01.png, images/Solteszova12Stylized02.png, images/Solteszova12Stylized03.png",
thumbnails = "images/Solteszova12Stylized01_thumb.png, images/Solteszova12Stylized02_thumb.png, images/Solteszova12Stylized03_thumb.png",
note = "Second best paper and second best presentation awards",
location = "Smolenice castle, Slovakia",
project = "illustrasound,medviz,illvis"
}@INPROCEEDINGS {Ford12HeartPad,
author = "Steven Ford and Gabriel Kiss and Ivan Viola and Stefan Brukner and Hans Torp",
title = "HeartPad: Real-Time Visual Guidance for Cardiac Ultrasound",
booktitle = "Proceedings of Workshop at SIGGRAPH ASIA 2012",
year = "2012",
series = "WASA 2012",
address = "Fusionopolis, Singapore",
month = "November",
abstract = "Medical ultrasound is a challenging modality when it comes to image interpretation. The goal we address in this work is to assist the ultrasound examiner and partially alleviate the burden of interpretation. We propose to address this goal with visualization that provides clear cues on the orientation and the correspondence between anatomy and the data being imaged. Our system analyzes the stream of 3D ultrasound data and in real-time identifies distinct features that are basis for a dynamically deformed mesh model of the heart. The heart mesh is composited with the original ultrasound data to create the data-to-anatomy correspondence. The visualization is broadcasted over the internet allowing, among other opportunities, a direct visualization on the patient on a tablet computer. The examiner interacts with the transducer and with the visualization parameters on the tablet. Our system has been characterized by domain specialist as useful in medical training and for navigating occasional ultrasound users.",
pdf = "pdfs/Ford12HeartPad.pdf",
images = "images/Ford12HeartPad01.png, images/Ford12HeartPad02.png",
thumbnails = "images/Ford12HeartPad01_thumb.png, images/Ford12HeartPad02_thumb.png",
project = "illustrasound,medviz, illvis"
}