Rendering Ultrasonic Imagery: The Sonic Flashlight 97
Effugas writes: "Fark pointed me at this brilliantly elegant new invention, the Sonic Flashlight. From the curious workshop of George Stetten, an ultrasonic scan of the inside of a patient's body is visually overlaid perceptually within the body being scanned, with no requirement for special glasses, viewing angles, or even particularly exotic hardware. How? Form a triangle with an ultrasound platform and its output display--then bisect the triangle with a half transparent(see the body below), half reflective(see the display above) pane of glass. Since the angles match, the two images merge to provide a perfectly placed synthesis of reality and its augmentation, irrespective of viewer position. Watch the video here for a demonstration; note the hand held variant at the bottom of the page as well. Slick!"
Genius (Score:5, Interesting)
Cute, but how useful in medical applications? (Score:5, Interesting)
In most medical uses, it's important to be able to change the angle at which the ultrasound image is taken. Like CAT scans, ultrasound takes images of anatomy in slices. It's generally required that certain views to visualize a certain grouping of structures is desired, and one needs to be able to get those pictures quickly at various angles. For that, the handheld transducer as used is still going to be more useful than this invention. For something like this invention, you'd have to turn the whole patient or extremity to obtain a different angle due to size of the glass panel and transducer. Not practical as it's currently implemented for most medical applications.
Can be used for airport security? (Score:3, Interesting)
Allied health uses (Score:2, Interesting)
But time will tell how clinically useful this device is. If more people could develop realtime 3D medical imaging, it might allow further quantification of clinical skills.
OK, time for sleep now.....
Awesome, but room for improvement (Score:2, Interesting)
For one, I don't see anyone performing a medical procedure, even as simple as inserting a needle, while trying to hold this thing at proper angle a the same time. Also, can you imagine trying the contorting needed should a doctor want to take look at some part of the body from the side. That said, here is a suggestion.
Instead of using the "HUD" approach, why not project the image on the body from an independent source while being able to leave the probe on a secured arm. First, data acquisition should not be very hard. Attach the ultrasound probe to an arm that can measure the rotation of joints (such as these [immersion.com]), or use four receivers and two transmitters attached to the probe (just like GPS) to determine the position and orientation of the probe. Quick linear transform on the acquired image and now you know what to project. This part I am not so clear about.
You could either use overhead projectors pointed down, or something smaller. Another idea I have to reduce cost here is something as simple at using a small laser pointer with a mirror that has two axis of rotation. Since the image is black and white anyway, all you need to do is determine the timing for each pixel and turn the pointer on and off to draw a picture. Depending on how fast you can turn the laser pointer and off you should be able to achieve much greater resolution (talking out of my ass, but I hope) Again, mount it on an arm or use triangulation to determine where you projecting.
I hope this post provokes more suggestions on how to improve on the concept, but this really does look like a technology demonstrator rather than something practical. Imagine what you could do if you could take X-rays, MRIs, PET scans, and real-time ultrasound to merge them all together and project all that on information on the patient. BTW, considering from watching TLC it looks like most doctors operate with a whole bunch of crap attached to their head anyway, 3D goggles to really "see" inside the body wouldn't be too much of a hassle for them.
Re:Nice demo, but of very dubious value (Score:3, Interesting)
1. While a well-trained US professional can do as you say, there are a lot of hospitals that can't afford/find a well-trained professional (think rural and innner-city medical centers). If this boosts the diagnostic ability of other caregivers, it will help patients. (Now, getting it made cheap enough for those hospitals to buy... could be trickier.)
2. It's an excellent teaching tool. Well-trained professionals got that way after struggling through many years of not being able to see jack shit. Speaking as someone who's a med student on the side, I would love to be able to use the SF to compare to a normal static US scan.
3. This isn't really aimed at diagnostic US anyway. One of the big goals of the MRCAS and MERIT centers at CMU is "augmented reality" for surgery. The idea is that as the surgeon prepares to go digging around in an area whose contents are not precisely localized, he/she can take a look with the SF and know exactly where to cut.
4. Even for diagnostic uses, like US-guided biopsy, this brings improvement. Instead of having to look away from the patient to some monitor, you keep your eyes on your hands and on the patient at all times. Speaking as someone who's had to handle a laparoscope while simultaneously staring at a TV screen, it would be a lot nicer if I had that little bit of extra visual feedback about precisely what my hands and the tissue under them were doing.
Applications to Sensor Array at Airports (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyway, it occurred to me that, when added to other sensors now being deployed at airports (portal monitoring), that this might have real value in security applications.
Flame away dudes!!
D
Not all uses are medical (Score:2, Interesting)
Ultrasounds can be used for testing material imperfections in other things besides people (though of course things like x-rays are better and are often used on non-living objects). All the same, I'd be interested in seeing how cheap this is. If it's significantly less expensive than previous ultrasounds (and it looks like it might be) then drop in cost can make a lot of things 'possible' that weren't before. DNA fingerprinting was possible before PCR in 1992, but PCR made it cheap enough for common use.
Ultrasound does have engineering applications
"The comparison between the original and final thickness converted to strain readings and plotted on thickness strain diagrams. The thickness is measured by pointed micrometers, or by ultrasound gage. From the final thickness and original thickness ratio, TF / TO, an actual strain level can be developed based on constant volume and plotted on a thickness strain diagram." (Hogarth, D.J., Gregoire, C.A., Caswell, S. L., 1991, p. 88).
http://nsmwww.eng.ohio-state.edu/Stamping_Glossar
Abstract: Circulation calculations, which have traditionally been performed by taking the line integral of the velocity around a closed path, require detailed knowledge of the flow field. An ultrasound method for circulation measurements has been under development at WPI for several years and it has the advantage of allowing for the direct measurement of circulation without the need for the velocity field data. This time-of-flight method employs counter-propagating ultrasonic pulses. The time difference between the counter-propagating pulses around the closed path is linearly proportional to the circulation enclosed by the ultrasound path. The ultrasound method of circulation measurement does not require any calibration constants and can be non-invasive. The reliability of the method was assessed by comparing the directly measured circulation values with those deduced from the lift of a symmetric airfoil. Examples will also be presented where the ultrasound technique has been applied to the vortical flow over a delta wing and a tip vortex. Owing to its simplicity and ease of operation, the technique may be utilized in the future as a sensor in closed-loop active flow control systems.
http://ase.tufts.edu/mechanical/calendar/mar99.ht