MediVol: A Practical Initial Evaluation of Refined, 3D, Interactive Volumetric Representations of Soft Tissue Pathologies in Virtual Environments

Effective processing of source data matched to appropriate visualisation can greatly enhance the user´s ability to explore and comprehend complex information. While this is a fundamental problem for many domains, in medical applications it is particularly important. None-invasive scanning technologies, such as MRI, have greatly enhanced our ability to `image´ the internal body, however the resultant visualisation is often difficult to comprehend due to both inadequacies in the scanning process and sub-optimal approaches to visualisation and data representation. These factors impose significant cognitive load on the user, requiring skill and experience to accurately comprehend detail and intense concentration, and in less experienced users, to understand the structures present. Our broader research aims to identify whether 3D representations of MRI data sets offer a more intuitive means of viewing the data and thereby enable easier understanding and comprehension of the scanned body region. As part of this research we have constructed a 3D MRI viewing application, raaMediVol, which utilises recent developments in 3D computer graphics hardware, to present an interactive environment that enables the user to view both traditional 2D slice representations and an enhanced 3D volumetric form that is freely explorable and configurable both on traditional 2D computer desktop displays and within immersive projection technologies (IPTs)[1]. Initial evaluation of the two representational paradigms been undertaken through the comparative assessment of experienced clinicians´ performance in diagnosing a range of soft tissue pathologies within the shoulder, displayed in both traditional 2D slice, and evolved 3D volumetric representational form. An overview of the application, its technical operation, and the results of the evaluation trials are presented.