title: The transesophageal echocardiography simulator based on computed tomography images.
abstract: Simulators are a new tool in education in many fields, including medicine, where they greatly improve familiarity with medical procedures, reduce costs, and, importantly, cause no harm to patients. This is so in the case of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), in which the use of a simulator facilitates spatial orientation and helps in case studies. The aim of the project described in this paper is to simulate an examination by TEE. This research makes use of available computed tomography data to simulate the corresponding echocardiographic view. This paper describes the essential characteristics that distinguish these two modalities and the key principles of the wave phenomena that should be considered in the simulation process, taking into account the conditions specific to the echocardiography. The construction of the CT2TEE (Web-based TEE simulator) is also presented. The considerations include ray-tracing and ray-casting techniques in the context of ultrasound beam and artifact simulation. An important aspect of the interaction with the user is raised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geoinformatics and Applied Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland. pioro@agh.edu.pl
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piórkowski
authors.forename: Aleksander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kempny
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*