| （英） |
3DCG reconstruction from CT or MRI images is no longer a novel technology and is routinely used in many hospitals worldwide. Recently, advanced medical image processing techniques, particularly those utilizing AI, have also been actively explored to achieve more sophisticated extraction and segmentation of specific anatomical structures from medical images.
However, the 3DCG visualization commonly seen in hospitals remain far from the high-quality real-time 3DCG familiar in the entertainment industry. It is outdated and difficult-to-interpret visual appearances, and unlike modern game characters, they are often not freely manipulable in real time. Medical doctors are frequently limited to viewing precomputed 3DCG images generated in advance through time-consuming manual work by physicians or technologists. Virtual reality using head-mounted displays has also been introduced in some medical applications, but many such systems merely display fixed 3D models and lack direct correspondence with the original CT or MRI images, resulting in significant practical limitations.
To address these issues, I developed Viewtify®, a software that intentionally avoids advanced medical image processing techniques and instead focuses exclusively on generating extremely fast and visually high-quality 3DCG reconstructions. Compared with existing systems, it is “only faster” and “only more beautiful,” without advanced functions such as volumetric analysis or surgical simulation. However, it enables users to generate 3DCG directly from medical images in real time, freely manipulate the models interactively, and even adjust the 3DCG reconstruction itself during visualization. Continuous time-series image datasets (commonly referred to as 4D imaging in the medical field) can also be visualized interactively in real time. Furthermore, support for commercially available glasses-free stereoscopic displays allows users to perceive the reconstructed anatomy as true three-dimensional structures with depth, almost as if a moving organ model were floating in front of them.
Although Viewtify® was originally developed with congenital heart disease, interest has recently expanded beyond pediatric cardiac surgery into unexpected fields such as plastic surgery, otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and gastrointestinal surgery and more. From an information science perspective, there is little fundamental novelty in being “only faster” and “only more beautiful”; the system was achieved primarily through persistent and highly practical programming efforts rather than groundbreaking theoretical innovation. In this presentation, I will demonstrate a variety of real clinical cases visualized live and discuss whether being “only faster” and “only more beautiful” can nonetheless have meaningful impact in actual medical practice. |