Medical Application

[Himanshu]

Normally LabVIEW is used for physiological and medical data
acquisition for
example ECG, Blood Pressure, Body temperature etc. I would like to
extend the
domain of LabVIEW by adding hi tech medical imaging to it.

I have a few questions which I would like to ask the NI Engineers:
1. How do I interface an ultrasound sensor to LabVIEW, what DAQ device
will I
need to interface an Ultrasound transducer and receiver to LabVIEW?
2. How do I interface an Endoscope to LabVIEW. Since the endoscope
sensor gives
a vision output I am aware that the image can be grabbed using a IMAQ
vision
card? What more do I need to know?
3. What are the limitations of BioBench? As per my knowledge BioBench
is used
for ECG and other physiological d
ata but is not used for Medical
Imaging.
Please inform me about the tests that can be performed on BioBench and
if it
can be used for medical imaging? Do the NI supply hardware for BioBench
and can
the hardware be purchased from NI/ Please do tell me the approximate
cost of
Hardware?
4. How do I interface a CT scan with LabVIEW platform? I am aware that
this is
farfetched idea but I would like to know if at all it is possible?
5. If I acquire the data serially then do I need a DAQ card for that
purpose
also or it can be done without a card just by using Serial VI’s?
6. I would like to know the cost of hardware that I will need to
interface the
endoscope and a ultrasound to the PC?


I hope the engineers at NI will appreciate the fact that I am trying
hard to
extend the domain of LabVIEW by making it a very cost effective option
for
Hospitals in India. It would be nice if I could get answers to all the
questions? Please make necessary a
ssumptions keeping in mind the
application
area is medical only, and the ultrasound and endoscope transducers will
be the
same as available in the market?"

[PdB]

Philips Medical Systems (Netherlands) uses LabVIEW intensively so you might get valuable answers there.

Greeting,
Patrick de Boevere

[JRA]

I would suggest contacting your local NI Field Engineer. You can call NI to find out who this would be. They will be able to come to your site to see exactly what you are wanting to do and then help you determine what tools you will need to build such a system.

[Himanshu]

It would be nice if you could please give me the email address of people at Philips Nietherlands.There are no email address in english on their website..
Thanking you
Himanshu Mishra

[PdB]

Albert Geven is an awarded Philips LabVIEW authority so he may give you some valuable info on who you may contact (albert.geven@philips.com), even though he works for a different Philips-department.
Next, N.I. netherlands, this week even held a NI-DAYS aspecially for Philips, so they may be able to help you further too (info.netherlands@ni.com).
Those are the contacts I know of.
Good luck,

Patrick de Boevere

[Himanshu]

Dear sir,

I know Mr Albert and I have already sent a mail to him in advance. I would like to know from you anybody who is involved in PC based biomedical Imaging work.
Thanks a lot for your support.
Bye and all the best
Himanshu Mishra

[PdB]

Sorry,
but I cannot help you further.
I already told you I don't know people involved personally.
I judged my opinion on a presentation about the use of labVIEW in the testing of their equipment about 5 years ago combined with the result of a google-search on the subject and LabVIEW after I read your question.

Good luck,

Patrick de Boevere

[NMR]

I am interesting to develop a "Medical Imaging course based LabView" for students of Nuclear Engineering Dept.I want to know if exist virtual instruments as CT, NMR, etc,that iI can use for this course.

Thank you,

Dr. Eugen Berman

[colby]

NI has a rich set of resources that may help you in your work. NI has a web page dedicated to Ultrasound including a starter kit using LV code. You can find it here:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/50316B69E6D975FA86256FB900824DC0

NI also has a Life Science page with numerous resources including Biotechnology, medica device testing, and pharmaceutical applications which you can find here:

http://www.ni.com/lifesciences/

As for the endoscope question, a number of partners have automated the testing of endoscopes using LabVIEW and imaging tools. You can read more here:

http://sine.ni.com/csol/cds/item/vw/p/id/245/nid/124400

As for Biobench, it is a useful tool but many customers would prefer to work with the benefit of the full LabVIEW system. NI created a Datalogger starter kit that looks like Biobench but gives you the ability to customize it to your needs.  You can find it here:

http://www.ni.com/lifesciences/biomedical_monitor.htm

For automating a CT scanner, I have heard of alliance partners doing this but don't know the details.  I can check around if you like. The interface (either DAQ or serial could vary based on which machine you are working on)

Please read the above information and then contact me if you want to talk further about pricing.

Hall T. Martin

hall.martin@ni.com