CarnaLife Holo - an ultimate tool for medical data visualization using augmented reality techniques

In many cases, even more important problem than medical data acquisition is the proper data visualization. CarnaLife Holo – an application developed by MedApp S.A., (Krakow, Poland) aims to achieve the feasibility of using a Microsoft HoloLens to directly augment patient-specific 3D and 4D (several time frames) data without preprocessing for easier diagnosis and surgical procedure performing. Our system provides functionality for loading medical data sets in common DICOM file format and adjust the transfer function to achieve effective visualization of human organs based on methods well-established in the medical visualization software. The release of the Microsoft HoloLens device opens exciting possibilities to further study the utility of head-mounted displays for mixed and augmented reality applications in medical procedures. Volume rendering technique implemented in the software allows to visualize 3D datasets with rich information, adjusted opacity level and colors which cannot be easily expressed as a surface such as polygonal meshes. In addition to having become the best-in-class technique in recent years, its generality and limited pre-processing requisites make it ideal for interactive AR. The ability to change lighting conditions and the volume transfer function on-the-fly makes it amongst the most flexible techniques. This, in turn, provides opportunities for better embedding virtual objects in the real world. In all fields of surgery, maintaining asepsis within the sterile surgical field is one of the most important concerns of surgical staff as to minimize the patient’s risk of infection. The head-mounted display does not contaminate the surgical site being operated by gestures and voice commands. Easy data manipulation makes the tool very user-friendly and simple to use even the first time.