Rs. Rowland et Gd. Bell, NON-RADIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUE FOR 3D IMAGING OF INTESTINAL ENDOSCOPES - COMPUTERIZED GRAPHICAL 3D REPRESENTATION OF ENDOSCOPE AND SKELETON, Medical & biological engineering & computing, 36(3), 1998, pp. 285-290
Colorectal cancer is a common malignancy but as vet there is no agreem
ent regarding the optimal method for screening. Colonoscopy is theoret
ically the investigation of choice. The examination can, however, be d
ifficult to perform and the average trainee requires at least 200 supe
rvised examinations to become proficient. Colonoscopy takes on average
about half an hour per patient and sedation is normally required beca
use of painful instrument looping. The authors previously developed a
non-radiological method of visualising the path of the endoscope using
magnetic drive coils under the patient and a chain of sensors in the
biopsy channel of the instrument. The computer-generated grey-scale im
ages produced in real time were deemed unsatisfactory and the anatomic
al markers confusing. A new computer graphics system is decribed in wh
ich a much more realistic endoscope and, if necessary, skeleton can be
produced. The wire-frame octagonal representation should help in the
detailed analysis of colonoscopy using existing endoscopes and aid in
future computer design and testing of novel instruments incorporating
worm or snake-like properties.