We have developed a visualization environment to assist surgeons with therapy delivery inside the beating heart, in absence of direct vision. This system employs virtual reality techniques to integrate pre-operative anatomical models, real-time intra-operative imaging, and models of magnetically-tracked surgical tools. Visualization is enhanced via 3D dynamic cardiac models constructed from high-resolution preoperative MR or CT data and registered within the intra-operative imaging environment. In this paper, we report our experience with a feature-based registration technique to fuse the pre-and intra-operative data during an in vivo intracardiac procedure on a porcine subject. Good alignment of the pre-and intra-operative anatomy within the virtual reality environment is ensured through the registration of easily identifiable landmarks. We present our initial experience in translating this work into the operating room and employing this system to guide typical intracardiac interventions. Given its extensive capabilities in providing surgical guidance in the absence of direct vision, our virtual environment constitutes an ideal candidate for performing off-pump intracardiac interventions.

Dr. Terry Peters is a Scientist in the Imaging Research Laboratories at the Robarts Research Institute (RRI), London, ON, Canada, and Professor in the Departments of Meduical Imaging and Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario, as well as a member of the Graduate Programs in Neurosciences and Biomedical Engineering. He is also an adjunct Professor at McGill University in Montreal. Dr. Peters received his graduate training at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand in Electrical Engineering, under the direction of Professor Richard Bates. His PhD work resolved fundamental issues in Computed Tomography and resulted in a seminal paper on the topic in 1971, just prior to CT's commercial development and use worldwide. For the past 20 years, his research has built on this foundation, focusing on the application of computational hardware and software advances to medical imaging modalities in surgery and therapy. Starting in 1978 at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Dr. Peters' lab pioneered many of the concepts and applications that are used for the surgical treatment of epilepsy and Parkinson's Disease. In 1997, Dr. Peters was recruited by the Robarts Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario, London Canada, to establish a focus of image-guided surgery and therapy within the Robarts Imaging Research Laboratories. His lab has expanded over the past ten years to encompass image-guided procedures of the heart, brain and abdomen.

Dr. Peters has authored over 150 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, a similar number of abstracts, and he has delivered over 130 invited presentations. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a Fellow of the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine; the American College of Physicists in Medicine, the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine; and the Institute of Physics. He is an executive member of the board of the MICCAI society, as well as its treasurer. He has mentored over 65 trainees at the Masters, Doctoral and Postdoctoral levels.