Virtual planning of liver resections:: image processing, visualization and volumetric evaluation

Operability of a liver tumor depends on its three dimensional relation to the intrahepatic vascular trees as well as the volume ratio of healthy to tumorous tissue. Precise operation planning is complicated by anatomic variability and distortion of the vascular trees by the tumor or preceding liver resections. We have developed a computer based 3D virtual operation planning system which is ready to go in routine use. The main task of a system in this domain is a quantifiable patient selection by exact prediction of post-operative liver function. It provides the means to measure absolute and relative volumes of the organ structures and resected parenchyma. Another important step in the pre-operative phase is to visualize the relation between the tumor, the liver and the vessel trees for each patient. The new 3D operation planning system offers quantifiable liver resection proposals based on individualized liver anatomy. The results are presented as 3D movies or as interactive visualizations as well as in quantitative reports. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.