Physically-based Deformation of High-Resolution 3D Lung Models for Augmented Reality based Medical Visualization

Abstract

Visualization tools using Augmented Reality Environments are effective in applications related to medical training, prognosis and expert interaction. Such medical visualization tools can also provide key visual insights on the physiology of deformable anatomical organs (e.g. lungs). In this paper we propose a deformation method that facilitates physically-based elastostatic deformations of 3D high-resolution polygonal models. The implementation of the deformation method as a pre-computation approach is shown for a 3D high-resolution lung model. The deformation is represented as an integration of the applied force and the local elastic property assigned to the 3D lung model. The proposed deformation method shows faster convergence to equilibrium as compared to other physically-based simulation methods. The proposed method also accounts for the anisotropic tissue elastic properties. The transfer functions are formulated in such a way that they overcome stiffness effects during deformations.