In this paper, we propose a new visualization technique for virtual
colonoscopy (VC). The proposed method is called Virtual Fly-Over, which splits
the entire colon anatomy into exactly two halves. Then, it assigns a virtual camera
to each half to perform fly-over navigation, which has several advantages
over both traditional fly-through and related methods. First, by controlling the
elevation of the camera, there is no restriction on its field of view (FOV) angle
(e.g., > 90) to maximize visualized surface areas, and hence no perspective
distortion. Second, the camera viewing volume is perpendicular to each colon
half, so potential polyps that are hidden behind haustral folds are easily found.
Finally, because the orientation of the splitting surface is controllable, the navigation
can be repeated at a different split orientation to overcome the problem of
having a polyp that is divided between the two halves of the colon. Quantitative
experimental results on 15 clinical...
M. Sabry Hassouna, Aly A. Farag, Robert Falk