3-D on Your PC: FiatLux's Visualize Software Makes 3-D Image Viewing Affordable

Advanced 3-D workstations are becoming part of the routine workflow in many healthcare facilities to accommodate the 3-D output from imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR). But referring physicians don’t always have access to these workstations.

Instead, images are normally distributed to referring physicians using CDs or DVDs. The basic viewing software embedded on those discs is rudimentary and doesn’t let you do much more than look at the raw images (slices)—which most nonradiologists find hard to understand—and perhaps view some screenshots selected by a radiologist. Without 3-D viewing software, the discs are often frustratingly inadequate.

Because of these limitations, there is a growing need from a number of specialties (e.g., neurology, vascular, orthopedic, and even small radiology groups) for an affordable means to view 3-D data within their offices—especially as the use of 3-D imaging increases.

The Visualize 3-D imaging software from FiatLux Imaging is designed to allow the review and analysis of 3-D CT and MR image data transferred on removable digital media. The software can run on standard office computing equipment, such as PCs, laptops, and handheld tablets, using Windows-based computing platforms (e.g., XP, Vista). After extracting images, the software automatically generates 3-D views that can be manipulated by the referring physician.

We tested the Visualize software, focusing principally on how easy the 3-D tools are...