Rui Liao's work on patient-specific 3-D model guidance for interventional and hybrid-operating-room applications

Compared to surgery, interventional and hybrid-operating-room (OR) approaches diagnose or treat pathology with the most minimally invasive techniques possible. By minimizing the physical trauma to the patient, peripheral or hybrid approaches can reduce infection rates and recovery time as well as shorten hospital stays. Minimally invasive approaches therefore are the trend and often the preferred choice, and may even be the only option for the patients associated with high surgery risks. Common interventional imaging modalities include 2-D X-ray fluoroscopy and ultrasound. However, fluoroscopic images do not display the anatomic structures without a contrast agent, which on the other hand, needs to be minimized for patients' safety. Ultrasound images suffer from relatively low image quality and tissue contrast problems. To augment the doctor's view of the patient's anatomy and help doctors navigate the devices to the targeted area with more confidence and a higher accuracy, high-resolution pre-operative volumetric data such as computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance can be fused with intra-operative 2-D images during interventions. A seamless workflow and accurate 2-D/3-D registration as well as cardiac and/or respiratory motion compensation are the key components for a successful image guidance system using a patient-specific 3-D model. Dr. Liao's research has been focused on developing methods and systems of 3-D model guidance for various interventions and hybrid-OR applications. Dr. Liao's work has led to several Siemens products with high clinical and/or market impact and a good number of scientific publications in leading journals/conferences on medical imaging.