Interactive access path exploration for planning of needle-based interventions

Minimally invasive procedures such as biopsy or thermal tumor ablations share a similar planning scenario: a linear path for a needle shaped instrument has to be found such that the needle tip can reach a defined target such as a tumor. The path should be chosen according to several criteria, which influence safety, practicability and, in the case of ablation techniques, the ablation success of the procedure. In this work we present a method to explore all possible access paths to a given target with respect to clinically relevant criteria. The method leverages the graphics processing unit to sample these criteria. Parallel coordinates are utilized to interactively explore the resulting set of paths. Finally, we present an interactive selection technique in combination with a real-time visualization of the selected path and the patient anatomy.