Inverse visualization concept for RGB-D augmented C-arms

X-ray is still the essential imaging for many minimally-invasive interventions. Overlaying X-ray images with an optical view of the surgery scene has been demonstrated to be an efficient way to reduce radiation exposure and surgery time. However, clinicians are recommended to place the X-ray source under the patient table while the optical view of the real scene must be captured from the top in order to see the patient, surgical tools, and the surgical site. With the help of a RGB-D (red-green-blue-depth) camera, which can measure depth in addition to color, the 3D model of the real scene is registered to the X-ray image. However, fusing two opposing viewpoints and visualizing them in the context of medical applications has never been attempted. In this paper, we propose first experiences of a novel inverse visualization technique for RGB-D augmented C-arms. A user study consisting of 16 participants demonstrated that our method shows a meaningful visualization with potential in providing clinicians multi-modal fused data in real-time during surgery.