Desired-View--controlled positioning of angiographic C-arms.

We present the idea of a user interface concept, which resolves the challenges involved in the control of angiographic C-arms for their constant repositioning during interventions by either the surgeons or the surgical staff. Our aim is to shift the paradigm of interventional image acquisition workflow from the traditional control device interfaces to 'desired-view' control. This allows the physicians to only communicate the desired outcome of imaging, based on simulated X-rays from pre-operative CT or CTA data, while the system takes care of computing the positioning of the imaging device relative to the patient's anatomy through inverse kinematics and CT to patient registration. Together with our clinical partners, we evaluate the new technique using 5 patient CTA and their corresponding intraoperative X-ray angiography datasets.