People

Primary researchers

Thomas Sangild Sørensen, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor
Centre for Advanced Visualization and Interaction, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Jesper Mosegaard, MSc, PhD student
Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus

Affiliations

Centre for Advanced Visualization and Interaction
Computer Graphics Group
Aarhus University Hospital
Centre for Pervasive Healthcare

Projects

Surgical Simulation

Surgical simulation presents a virtual environment where surgeons can train surgical procedures. Our research has focused on the development of faster calculation of deformation and visualization. We seek to simulate very complex morphology in real-time. The project has two clinical applications; congenital cardiac diseases and cranio facial deformations. For the simulator for congenital cardiac diseases we cooperate with Ole Kromann Hansen, MD and Vibeke Hjortdal, MD from the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Aarhus University Hospital. For the simulation of jaw deformations we cooperate with Thomas Klit Pedersen, MD, Sven Erik Nørholt, MD and Thomas Kofod, MD from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Aarhus University Hospital. For the data aquisition we work with Gerhald Greil, MD from University of Tübingen.

Subprojects:
Surgical Simulation on Congenitally Malformed Hearts
Surgical Simulation on Craniofacial Deformations

3D MRI Aquisition and Visualization

Current standards in magnetic resonance imaging of congenital heart disease are based mostly on anisotropic protocols to image both morphology and function. Operator-dependent acquisition planning is typically needed to obtain the desired images. We propose to instead use operator-independent, three-dimensional, isotropic imaging protocols to acquire both morphology and function (cine, flow) of the entire heart in a few standardized acquisitions. Then, due to the isotropic property of the data, any desired imaging plane can be 'imaged' offline by interactive planar reformatting and used for qualitative and quantitative diagnostic evaluation. From Aarhus University Hospital we cooperate with Erik Morre Pedersen, MD, DMSc, PhD, Michael Schacht Hansen, MSc and Keld Sørensen, MD. From Ruhr University Bochum, Clinic for Congenital Heart Disease in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany we cooperate with Philipp Beerbaum, MD.

Virtual Morphological Modelling

The cardiac morphology in patients with congenital heart disease is often very complex and varies considerably between individuals. Consequently, accurate morphological information remains of outmost importance when planning the surgical intervention. The individual morphology can now be accurately reconstructed and represented by virtual models. This will undoubtedly make three-dimensional imaging and subsequent virtual reconstructions an important clinical investigative tool within the nearest future. From Aarhus University Hospital we cooperate with Erik Morre Pedersen, MD, DMSc, PhD, Keld Sørensen, MD and Ole Kromann Hansen, MD. We furthermore cooperate with Systematic Software Engineering through Søren Vorre Therkildsen, MSc.

Publications

Journals

T.S. Sørensen, H. Körperich , G.F. Greil, J. Eichhorn, P. Barth, H. Meyer, E.M. Pedersen, P. Beerbaum. Operator-independent isotropic three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging for morphology in congenital heart disease: a validation study. Circulation. 2004;110(2):163-9.

T.S. Sørensen, E.M. Pedersen, O.K. Hansen K. Sørensen. Visualization of morphological details in congenitally malformed hearts: Virtual, three-dimensional reconstruction from magnetic resonance imaging. Cardiology in the Young. 2003;13(5):451-60.

T.S. Sørensen, S.V. Therkildsen, O.K. Hansen, K. Sørensen, E.M. Pedersen. Total cavo-pulmonary connection: a virtual 3-dimensional fly-through. Circulation. 2002;105(20):E176-6.

P. Makowski, T.S. Sørensen, S.V. Therkildsen, P. Materka, H. Stødkilde-Jørgensen and E.M. Pedersen. Two-phase active contour method for semiautomatic segmentation of the heart and blood vessels from MRI images for 3D visualization. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics. 2002;26(1):9-17.

T.S. Sørensen, S.V. Therkildsen, P. Makowski, J.L. Knudsen and E.M. Pedersen. A new virtual reality approach for planning of cardiac interventions. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. 2001;22:193-214.

Conference abstracts/proceedings

J. Mosegaard. Parameter Optimisation for the Behaviour of Elastic Models over Time. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference, Newport Beach, USA, 2004.

J. Mosegaard. LR-Spring Mass Model for Cardiac Surgical Simulation. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference, Newport Beach, USA, 2004.

T.S. Sørensen, K. Sørensen, O.K. Hansen, E.M. Pedersen. MRI Based Preoperative Reconstruction and Surgical Planning in Congenital Heart Disease. 11th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference, Newport Beach, USA, 2003.

T.S. Sørensen, K. Sørensen, O.K. Hansen, E.M. Pedersen. Three-dimensional reconstruction from MRI for preoperative planning in congenital heart disease. SMIT 2002 - The Society for Medical Innovation and Technology, Oslo, Norway, 2002.

A.D. Blankholm, T.S. Sørensen, E.M. Pedersen. 3D Virtual Reality of the Heart, Preliminary Results. 11th Annual Meeting Syllabus, Section for Magnetic Resonance Technologists:115, 2002.

P. Makowski, T.S. Sørensen, S.V. Therkildsen, H. Stødkilde-Jørgensen and E.M. Pedersen. Two Phase Segmentation Method for Cardiac MRI Data Involving Deformable Contour and Deformable Model. Proceedings 8th Scientific Meeting, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine:1547, 2000.

T.S. Sørensen, S.V. Therkildsen, P. Makowski, J.L. Knudsen and E.M. Pedersen. Real-Time Interactive Visualization of the Cardiovascular System Based on Cardiac MRI. Proceedings 8th Scientific Meeting, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine:1552, 2000.

Dissertations

T.S. Sørensen. A new look at congenitally malformed hearts: Diagnostics and Interventional Planning using Interactive Planar Reformatting and Three-dimensional Virtual Recnstruction from Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data. PhD thesis. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Aarhus, April 2004.

J. Mosegaard. Cardiac Surgical Simulation. Masters thesis. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Aarhus, May 2003

S.V. Therkildsen and T.S. Sørensen. Visualization of the Cardiovascular System in a Virtual Reality Environment for Preoperative Planning of Cardiac Surgery. Masters thesis. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Aarhus, January 2000.

Public media

3D scanning af hjertepatienter, TV Avisen (6/9-2004). link

3D-teknologi finner hjertefeil hos spedbarn, addressa.no (18/8-2004). link

The BBC radioshow, Go Digital (16/7-2004), discussed the virtual heart project (text and streaming).

Et hjertebarn, Kantrinebjerg newsletter (22/1-2004) link

Hjertet banker videre, Kantrinebjerg newsletter (22/12-2003) link

It-samarbejde i Århus hjælper små hjerter, Automatik (jan 2003). link

A scientific TV show, DR Viden Om (2/9 2001), describes our project (text and streaming).

The national danish television news, DR Søndagsmagasinet (5/12-1999), made this report.