Real-time stereo 3D ultrasound.

Real-time 3D ultrasound was developed at Duke University in 1991 and has since been used with a variety of transducers and shown effectiveness in clinical applications and in vivo animal imaging studies. Methods for displaying the 3D pyramid of data acquired by the system include selecting 2D image slices or integrating data into a volume rendered view. A third method, real-time stereo 3D imaging, is discussed here. The clinical commercial 3D system has been modified in our laboratory to display a real-time stereo image pair on the scanner display to be viewed through a stereoscope. This merges the pair into a single image, with a sensation of depth. Stereoscopic displays have previously been demonstrated to provide benefits, including improved depth judgments and increased perception of image quality in other applications. Previously-saved volumes of ultrasound data are shown in stereo 3D using the new system.