HDlive - Voluson GE Healthcare technology

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HDlive is an extraordinary rendering method generating amazingly realistic images of the human fetus from sonographic data. Through the use of an advanced illumination model, HDlive supports shadows, a virtual light source and advanced skin rendering techniques. This new method exploits the superb image quality provided by the latest generation of beam forming technology, speckle reduction algorithms and compound resolution imaging technologies on Voluson E8 and Voluson E8 Expert systems.

Conventional rendering methods utilize a fixed virtual light source which reflects the light off the skin surface. HDlive differs in that it calculates the propagation of light through skin and tissue. As the light from the virtual light source enters the body, a portion of the light is reflected towards the eye while the remaining light enters the area of interest and passes through it. The light propagating through the tissue is continually scattered and attenuated. Shadows will appear where the light has travelled through denser tissue. The user may freely position a virtual light source at any angle relative to the ultrasound volume to enhance details. Positioning the virtual light source behind the scene will show the effect of translucency.

HDlive is possible by using the second generation Dynamic Rendering Engine which performs computations in a massively parallel implementation on a dedicated graphics processing unit boasting 20 times the processing power of a desktop pc.

 

Bernard BENOIT,
hôpital Princesse Grace, Monaco

Jean-Marc LEVAILLANT,
hôpital du Kremlin -Bicêtre