A touchless interface for interventional radiology procedures

Interventional radiology is a medical sub-specialty of radiology which utilizes minimally-invasive image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat diseases in nearly every organ system. The entire process is pivoted on imaging and the way surgeon or doctor interacts with the images to guide him/her through the entire procedure. The process still remains to be a challenge to interact and manipulate objects in an image in sterile medical environment where keyboard, mice and touch screen are potential source of infection. This paper aims at investigating a potential solution with a low-cost, touch-free motion-tracking (hand gestures) device for interactions with image visualization environment. The solution involves a device that tracks a person's hand gestures and its motion and custom software that translates motion information obtained with the motion-tracking device into commands to review and manipulate images on a workstation. This solution would yield to a Touchless Sterile Interface for effortless image interactions in Interventional Radiology procedures.