The e-Touch sonoTM system allows users to interactively feel and see 3D ultrasound images. This system is currently targeted for use in pre-natal imaging [1]. Parents are able to feel as well as see three-dimensional imagery. We have found that this increases both their understanding and their enjoyment of their child's ultrasound image. This has several important benefits. First of all, it all...

Three-dimensional and four-dimensional ultrasound (3D/4D US) technology can be easily applied to routine prenatal diagnosis and can provide images of the fetal face that cannot be achieved with two-dimensional ultrasound (2D US) [1–7]. The most recent 3D/4D US technology facilitates the 3D/4D US examinations even for the less trained sonographer and gives the examiner the opportunity to identif...

One of the most commonly performed minimally invasive surgical procedures is needle insertion. Such needle insertions are often performed either for diagnosis (e.g., biopsies) or therapy (e.g., brachytherapy), both of which require accurate needle placement. These procedures are frequently performed under ultrasound image-guidance which provides visual feedback. Clinicians usually use rigid bev...

Three-dimensional Ultrasound image segmentation methods are surveyed in this paper. The focus of this report is to investigate applications of these techniques and a review of the original ideas and concepts. Although many two-dimensional image segmentation in the literature have been considered as a threedimensional approach by mistake but we review them as a three-dimensional technique. We se...

The risk of uterine scar dehiscence and uterine rupture is inversely related to the lower uterine segment (LUS) thickness as measured by ultrasound. Three dimensional ultrasound can increase the reliability of ultrasound in prediction of scar dehiscence. Transvaginal three dimensional ultrasound measurement of the muscular layer thickness of the lower uterine segment seems to be the most reliab...

This paper presents a system for acquiring three dimensional ultrasound data and extracting surfaces of the examined structures. The acquisition is performed freehand with a PC-based two-dimensional ultrasound machine and an optical tracker. The extraction of surfaces from ultrasound data is normally inhibited by speckle, shadowing and gaps in the acquired data. A new method is developed that e...

Real-time three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound (US) has attracted much more attention in medical researches because it provides interactive feedback to help clinicians acquire high-quality images as well as timely spatial information of the scanned area and hence is necessary in intraoperative ultrasound examinations. Plenty of publications have been declared to complete the real-time or near real...

Ultrasound examination of the fetal palate is known to be problematic. The difficulties identified include shadowing by facial bones, its curved anatomy, and its location deep inside the fetal head especially for the posterior part of palate. The soft tissues in the area, e.g. the fetal tongue, also make it more difficult to delineate the palate. Antenatal detection rate of fetal cleft palate h...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the feasibility of five-dimensional Long Bone (5D LB), a new technique that automatically archives, reconstructs images, and measures lengths of fetal long bones, to assess whether the direction of volume sweep influences fetal long bone measurements in three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound and 5D LB, and to compare measurements of fetal long bone lengths obtained with 5D LB a...

We present an integrated photoacoustic and ultrasonic three-dimensional (3-D) volumetric imaging system based on a two-dimensional (2-D) matrix array ultrasound probe. A wavelength-tunable dye laser pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser serves as the light source and a modified commercial ultrasound imaging system (iU22, Philips Healthcare) with a 2-D array transducer (X7-2, Philips Healthcare) d...