Patent ID: 6674833
Filing Date: 2004-01-06
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A method of obtaining desired subsurface views of a patient target site, comprising(a) obtaining volumetric scan data of a surgical site of a patient, and storing the scan data in digital form in a scan-data file, where the scan data is composed of voxels having defined coordinates and associated M-bit tissue-density values, (b) with the patient positioned in a surgical station, selecting a point in space representing a virtual fluoroscopic irradiation source, (c) defining a plurality of rays extending between the source point and each of a plurality of points in a two-dimensional XY array of points, where (i) the array points correspond to pixels in an XY pixel array in a display screen, and (ii) at least some of the rays pass through a plurality of such voxels in the patient target region, (d) for each ray, summing the M-bit values of the voxels along that ray, (e) displaying the image constructed of gray-scale values representing the summed M-bit density values at each pixel in said display screen, and (f) repeating steps (a)-(e) until a desired displayed subsurface view of the patient target site is obtained.