The surgical workstation: surgical planning using generic software

Computer software for rendering and display of three-dimensional data is becoming readily available for all types of computers. Such programs typically accept data from any source, compute a three-dimensional volume of data, and display it with a variety of rendering options. Although not specifically designed for medical image processing, these programs can provide very detailed and finely rendered images that are useful for surgical planning. We use one such program to display data from standard computed tomography scans, which gives us a photorealistic three-dimensional view of patient anatomy. This view can be modified to render tissues transparent, translucent, or opaque, and thus allows the surgeon to selectively enhance bony architecture, tumors, or other details. Images can be rotated, sliced, and displayed in the surgical position. Image animation can be added to facilitate the display of complex anatomic relationships. Our experience with this technology suggests that such programs can provide the basis for personal surgical workstations for medical image analysis and surgical planning. Further development of such generic imaging systems should allow this useful technology to become widely available for surgical planning and education. We discuss our experience with a typical generic imaging workstation.