NDI Chooses IGSTK for Medical Research

Northern Digital Inc. (NDI), a world-leader in 3D measurement technology for medical, industrial and research applications utilized the Image-Guided Surgery Toolkit (IGSTK) and Slicer to demonstrate how open source software can be used to quickly develop medical research applications. NDI demonstrated their Aurora System, which integrates IGSTK and Slicer with NDI technology, at the IGSTK User Group Meeting held in conjunction with SPIE 2009. NDI’s Aurora System uses and 18-gauge needle containing a tiny electromagnetic sensor at its tip; utilizing the Aurora System researchers are able to view the needle on a diagnostic image, updated in real-time as it is manipulated to quickly and accurately target a lesion represented in an anatomical phantom.

IGSTK, an open source software toolkit developed by Kitware in collaboration with ISIS Center at Georgetown University, Arizona State University, and SINTEF from Norway, provided the basic software components needed to quickly develop image-guided surgery applications.

3D Slicer, a multi-platform software for visualization and image computing developed through NIH funding and led by Dr. Ron Kikinis (NA-MIC) and Dr. Ferenc Jolesz (NCIGT) provided the tools for the registration and segmentation of NDI’s medical data. The Slicer Application is built on top of Kitware’s open-source VTK and ITK toolkits and employs Kitware’s Quality Software Process for testing the application.

Support for IGSTK and 3D Slicer comes from several federal funding sources including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).

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