Real-time 3D acquisition is a new trend in ultrasound imaging. True real-time 3D acquisition will eliminate motion artifacts and enable more accurate study of moving anatomy, such as heart. It will further transfer the expertise required in acquisition of conventional 2D ultrasound to simply extracting the desired anatomical planes from 3D blocks of time-series ultrasound data. That a lay man can operate a 3D ultrasound scanner makes 3D imaging ideal for telemedicinal and combat-field applications. Dr. Geoffrey Lockwood of Biomedical Engineering is spearheading the development of a real-time 3D ultrasound scanner.
Software is the gateway to hardware.
Efforts are underway to develop a stand-alone visualization system alongside the ultrasound scanner development. It is with this visualization system that a diagnostician will interact with massive amounts of ultrasound data. Research is being conducted to devise new algorithms and extend existing ones to higher dimensions to bring out information necessary for effective diagnosis and treatment. Proc IEEE Visual Conf. , p335-342, 1996.