Merging visible and invisible: two Camera-Augmented Mobile C-arm (CAMC) applications

This paper presents the basic concept of CAMC and some of its applications. A CCD camera is attached to a mobile C-arm fluoroscopy X-ray system. Both optical and X-ray imaging systems are calibrated in the same coordinate system in an off-line process. The new system is able to provide X-ray and optical images simultaneously. The CAMC framework has great potential for medical augmented reality. We briefly introduce two new CAMC applications to the augmented reality research community. The first application aims at merging video images with a pre-computed tomographic reconstruction of the 3D volume of interest. This is a logical continuation of our work on 3D reconstruction using a CAMC (1999). The second approach is a totally new CAMC design where using a double mirror system and an appropriate calibration procedure the X-ray and optical images are merged in real-time. This new system enables the user to see an optical image, an X-ray image, or an augmented image where both visible and invisible are combined in real-time. The paper is organized in two independent sections describing each of the above. Experimental results are provided at the same time as the methods and apparatus are described for each section.