Mobile 3D augmented-reality system for ultrasound applications

Ultrasound imaging is a highly valuable diagnostic tool. It is increasingly portable, provides real-time imaging of complex structures, and is considered safe. Yet, because ultrasound is a highly operator dependent modality the uptake of ultrasound within a broader range of medical contexts has been limited and hasn´t made major inroads within the offices of General Practitioners, Midwives, and other non-specialists. Learning to effectively use ultrasound can easily take up to 12 months with direct expert supervision. To facilitate wider adoption of ultrasound technology we are attempting to determine if using augmented-reality can speed up the process of learning to use ultrasound by providing a patient specific correspondence between the ultrasound data acquired in real-time and a sufficiently detailed augmented 3D scene. We have established a tablet-based system for visualizing the heart within a patients body using augmented-reality techniques in conjunction with the streaming data provided by a GE Vivid E9 ultrasound machine. This system gives the operator visual feedback as to the location of the heart within the body, the anatomical features the echo plane is intersecting and if the operator is currently tracking the left-ventricle.