Visuo-Haptic Model of Prostate Cancer Based on Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Prostate cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths among American men. Early detection of prostate cancer is key to increase the chances of a treatment able to preserve the healthy organs, limit side effects, and eventually improve survival rates. This thesis presents a mixed reality application that serves as a non-invasive, accurate, and complete medical tool to improve prostate cancer diagnostic process. The implemented application allows Urology surgeons to explore their patients’ prostate anatomy both visually and haptically. A 3D model of the gland tissue is obtained by a Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE). A volumetric rendering of the color-coded tumor lesions (hard) as well as healthy (soft) tissue are rendered in 3D by the stereoscopic display. In addition, prostate tissues can be virtually palpated with a haptic device to help the surgeon identify location and size of prostate tumors and determine cancer staging. The provided force feedback directly relies on the MRE data and allows the surgeon to feel a distinctive change of resistance of prostate tissues with different degrees of stiffness. Preliminary evaluation of the mixed realty application conducted by a cohort of expert Urologists showed nearly perfect correspondence between visual and haptic cues and confirmed that force feedback is able to enhance and complement visual information for better prostate cancer diagnosis.