3D Reconstruction and Augmented Reality in Bronchoscopic Intervention

Abstract

The use of stereoscopic visualization has recently been proposed for many applications. Other than for entertainment, stereo viewing is being proposed for robotics and medical teleoperation. This paper proposes to exploit the stereo-camera setup available in stereo-viewing systems for 3D reconstruction. We focus on medical endoscopic applications. The advantages of having a reconstructed vision-based depth map during endoscopic navigation and intervention are many, including the possibility for generation of an augmented-reality visual scenario to support surgeons during interventions. We ran our experiments on a realistic graphic model of human bronchus to study feasibility of the proposed concept. We reconstructed depth maps of a bronchus environment and used them to generate augmented reality views of the observed scenes.