Realistic Virtual Endoscopy of the ventricle system and haptic-based surgical simulator of hydrocefalus treatment.

New methods and software tools for automatic extraction of the ventricle system from magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) data, ventricle part classification, and realistic texturing are proposed to support Virtual Endoscopy (VE). Volume- and surface-based medical atlases are intensively used as templates in the methods. The processed ventricle-related surfaces are then utilized in a haptic-based system, which provides a surgeon with several basic functions simulating "virtual treatment" of hydrocephalus.