REAL TIME THREE-DIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATION FOR RADIOTHERAPY PLANNING

DYNAMIC DIGITAL DISPLAYS (3D), INC. WAS ESTABLISHED TO DEVELOP AND MARKET A HIGH-PERFORMANCE PHYSICIAN'S WORKSTATION WITH IMPROVED FACILITIES FOR REAL TIME, INTER- ACTIVE, THREE-DIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATION OF HUMAN ANATOMY AS DERIVED FROM CT, MR, OR PET SCANS. A PROTOTYPE DEVICE IS ALREADY OPERATIONAL AND GENERATES SHADED GRAPHICS IMAGES OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANATOMY ON A TWO-DIMENSIONAL VIDEO MONITORAT 15 TO 20 FRAMES PER SECOND. THIS SYSTEM SHOULD PROVIDE BETTER TUMOR AND NORMAL TISSUE LOCALIZATION AND AND IDENTIFICATION FOR RADIATION THERAPY PLANNING (RTP). NOVEL ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEM WILL INCLUDE THREE-DIMENSIONAL, INTERACTIVE BEAM PLACEMENT IN SIMULTANEOUS VIEWING OF ANATOMY AND DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS (USING COLOR FOR EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION), REAL TIME ROTATION, AND SPLICE-PLANES TO REMOVE UNWANTED STRUCTURES AND OBTAIN INTERNAL VIEWS. THIS PHASE I WILL COMPRISE THE SPECIFICATION, DESIGN, AND SIMULATION OF SPECIAL FEATURES REQUIRED FOR RTP; THESE WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO THE WORKSTATION DURING PHASE II. SPECIFIC PHASE I OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. ESTABLISH INTERACTIVE FEATURES NEEDED FOR RTP AND DETERMINE THEIR OVERALL FEASIBILITY; 2. SIMULATE THESE FEATURES WITH EXISTING HIGH- PERFORMANCE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE; 3. EVALUATE RESULTS WITH CLINICAL ANATOMY AND DOSIMETRY DATA; AND 4. PREPARE DETAILEDPLANS FOR THE COMMERCIAL PROTOTYPE, TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN PHASE II.