Comparison of 2D and 3D Input Devices for Virtual Endoscopy

Within the last few years computer support became essential, since complex systems have substantially influenced the therapy planning. Those systems enable the physician to virtually plan the operation procedure at the patient, already before the real intervention is performed. It is the aim of surgery to avoid the danger of complications and to operate as gently as possible to ensure the quality of the surgical intervention. The computer-assisted surgical intervention planning can help here with optimized interaction techniques and selected input devices. The major application for virtual endoscopy was diagnostics (1) for which a number of efficient visualizations and image analysis techniques has already been developed (2),(3). In this paper the interaction with 2D and 3D input devices for the planning of endoscopic sinus interventions is examined and evaluated, and for the first time the systematic comparison of different input devices is in the focus. In addition, the possibilities for the control mapping of a single input device and a combination of two different devices to an interaction technique are described. The focus is on the control of the view point that represents the virtual endoscope.