A Display Framework for Visualizing Real-Time 3D Lung Tumor Radiotherapy

Medical display systems are valuable tools in enabling the clinicians in the field of radiation therapy to view a patient's multi-modal information and treatment plan details. The effectiveness of display systems is further improved by including computer-based visualization systems that deliver the content comprehensively. In this paper, we present a medical display and visualization framework for radiation therapy that couples a computer-based simulation of real-time lung tumor motion and its dose accumulation during treatment with an Augmented Reality Center (ARC) based display system. The simulation framework provides insights on the variations in the effectiveness of the lung therapy for changes in the patient's breathing conditions. The display system aims to enhance the clinician's understanding by enhancing the 3D depth perception of the dose accumulation in lung tumors. Thus the framework acts as a tool for presenting both pre-operative studies and intra-operative treatment efficacy analysis when coupled with a real-time respiration monitor. A first evaluation of this framework was carried out using six clinical experts. Results show that, using the ARC compared to a 2D monitor, the experts were able to more efficiently perceive the radiation dose delivered to various aspects of the moving tumor and the surrounding normal tissues, as well as more quickly detecting radiation hot spots that are critical to minimizing damage to healthy tissue.