Feasibility study of imaging of intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas based on integral photography.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The principle of integral photography was first proposed by Lippman in 1908. Recently, the three-dimensional display system based on the principle of integral photography was developed. It projects three-dimensional objects using a lens array called a fly's eye lens and photographic film. Some groups have used it for surgical navigation in brain surgery. In this study, we tried to generate integral photographic images of intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas, and evaluated the feasibility of this method.

METHODOLOGY: Five patients with an intraductal papillary mucinous tumor of pancreas were studied. We used MRI data as three-dimensional data. MRI data were acquired with a 1.5-T clinical imager (Signal.5; GE Medical Systems, U.S.A). We used multi-slab single-shot fast spin-echo sequences. Section thickness was between 2 and 3mm in the coronal plane. From these data, integral photographic images were generated on a liquid crystal display by a three-dimensional rendering algorithm.

RESULTS

Three-dimensional images using the principle of integral photography could be generated in all 5 cases. We could recognize these images as three-dimensional images by slightly moving the viewpoint to up, down, left, and right. From these images, we were able to grasp the three-dimensional relationship between the tumor, bile duct, and pancreatic duct. Using these three-dimensional images, a variety of minimally invasive surgical procedures were performed for intraductal papillary mucinous tumor of the pancreas, more safely and speedily than formerly.

CONCLUSIONS

The images based on integral photography are suitable for medical imaging and are useful for surgical planning.