Nearly real-time visualization of arbitrary two-dimensional sections from three-dimensional acquisition

This work presents a system for the reconstruction of cross-sections with arbitrary orientations derived from three-dimensional (3D) echographic scanners. The interest for this powerful diagnostic tool has prompted us to develop a low-cost processing board that inserts easily into a stand-alone echograph. The proposed system is able to reconstruct high-resolution cross-sections at one frame per second with a time lag of about 60 s due the 3D acquisition process. The board, based on three pipelined DSP devices, has been designed to process volumetric data collected with a commerical echograph by means a rotating probe synchronized with the ECG signal. The resolution of the reconstruction algorithm implemented on the processing unit has been evaluated both with synthetic 3D data and with experimental data from a phantom.