Imaging the bladder using an endoscope provides physicians a way to discover tumors, stones and other lesions, and examine the organ. The view is fleeting, at most providing a video record that can be examined at a later time. Now scientists at Stanford have developed a technique for harnessing this video data to create 3D reconstructions of the bladder that can be used to help with diagnoses and to prepare for interventional procedures.
As described in journal Biomedical Optics Express, the technique does not require special hardware beyond that already used during routine cystoscopies. Only a computer is needed to process the video footage. The video produced by an endoscope is fed into a computer where special image processing algorithms turn it into a volumetric model of the bladder. To confirm that the results match the actual structure of what is being visualized, the team tested the technique on phantom models of a bladder, demonstrating that the virtual 3D structure matched the physical one.
The technique should be readily adaptable to other organs that are commonly visualized via endoscopy, including the esophagus, colon, and stomach.
Here’s video of a bladder reconstruction:
Study in Biomedical Optics Express: 3D reconstruction of cystoscopy videos for comprehensive bladder records…
Via: Stanford…