Skull base anatomy VR
About:
The anatomy of the base of the skull is intricate and complex due to its proximity to many vital nervous system structures. Accessing some of these structures surgically, such as the pituitary gland, often involves approaches like endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal surgery through the nasal region. An ENT faculty member wanted to create an application that allowed her to teach both ENT residents and neurosurgery residents simultaneously about the anatomy of this region.
This VR tool enables users to visualize the spatial relationships and pathways of numerous clinically important vessels, nerves, and structures in the skull. Models of the skull can be easily manipulated in VR, allowing both ENT and neurosurgery residents to collaboratively learn and understand each other’s perspectives on anatomy. The use of VR and its different features allow for better visualizaton of spatial relationships between structures in densely packed regions like the skull base and ethmoidal area.
Role: Project planning, modeling & UIUX design
Target audience: Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) and neurosurgery residents
Software: Zbrush, Maya, ShapesXR, Unity 3D, Adobe Illustrator
Format: Exe application accessible on Meta Quest 3
Design and UI
I worked with an ENT faculty member to ensure that her learning objectives were met through different functionalities in the VR application. With a focus on teaching skull base anatomy, I designed the application with a focus on enhancing spatial understanding of clinically important structures. Functionalities included are visibility adjustments, clipping plane feature to control a clipped view of anatomy, and a labeling and annotation feature.
During the design and prototyping phase, I utilized ShapesXR to create the application's interface and functionality in virtual reality. This tool allowed me to prototype in a 3D immersive environment, enhancing my understanding of the user's perspective. It provided a quick and easy method to explore and validate design concepts in virtual reality. Additionally, ShapesXR's desktop mode made the prototype easy to share with team members, facilitating collaboration and making hand off to our team’s programmer efficient.
The interface was iteratively designed based on feedback from tests by multiple users.
Early prototype product in ShapesXR
Modeling
I cleaned up the skull models based on segmented CT data provided. Major challenges involved reconstructing the turbinate bones, ethmoid region and various foramina from segmented data. Additionally, I modeled the vessel, sinus and neural pathways from scratch. The final models were decimated to reduce polycount for a VR environment.
Segmented raw data is seen on the left, and high poly cleaned up models are seen on the right.
Reconstruction of ethmoid and turbinate bones, including small foramina such as the anterior and posterior ethmoidal foramen
Cleaning up of holes in segmented data to include only true foramina in the skull
Removal of mandible and separation of cervical vertebra from base of skull