Development of a novel method for manipulation of angiographic images by use of a motion sensor in operating rooms

During angiographic examinations, interventional radiologists need various image manipulations such as paging, roaming, zooming, windowing, fusion, summation, subtraction, image enhancement, and reference image display in order to assess forward vessels, nidus conditions, and sources of bleeding. However, radiologists cannot touch the screen by hand because their gloves must always be kept clean. Usually, radiologists provide verbal instructions to technologists, who may operate the workstation to display appropriate images with various types of image processing. However, if a technologist is not at the console because of preparation of the catheter or contrast agent, a quick operation may not be performed. Therefore, we developed an image operation system that uses a motion sensor for angiography. With this motion-sensor workstation, radiologists can give instructions for image display and manipulation merely with movements of the fingers. This is a new technology for angiography in operating rooms. For proper display of simulated viewing for the sequence of clinical digital subtraction angiography (DSA) images, we investigated a comparison of the average time required by the conventional method using the mouse and the finger operating method with a motion sensor. After practice of a total of 30 min, the average operation time by the finger method was significantly shorter than that by the mouse method. This motion sensor method with appropriate training about finger movements can provide a better operating performance than the conventional mouse method.