Vurtigo is a four-dimensional (3D + time) real-time visualization software for guiding cardiovascular interventions. It is designed to be part of a pipeline that can connect it to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, actively tracked catheters, and navigational devices.
We thank Graham A. Wright, the senior scientist who has guided this project from its inception. We would also like to thank all previous contributors to Vurtigo, in particular Stefan Pintilie who designed version 1.0, Roey Flor who subsequently led development through version 3.0, and Perry Radau, who provided technical guidance through the development of Vurtigo to the release of version 3.1.
Vurtigo has been made possible through the financial support of the Strategic Innovation Fund, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Thanks also to Percept Imaging, for their assistance in preparing the latest release.
The Vurtigo Team
Bonny Biswas
Sebastian Ferguson
If you use Vurtigo in your academic research, please cite Vurtigo as described here.
A docker image is currently available for Vurtigo 3.2 from dockerhub.
This has only been tested on Linux systems with an X server
Install instructions can be found here. Warranty information is found here.
Artificial EP dataset with electrophysiology points, left ventricle mesh, and preclinical short- and long-axis cine MRIs (DICOM format) that can be loaded into Vurtigo
Vurtigo Features include:
Extensible Plugin Architecture The Vurtigo core provides support for rendering and controlling objects. Plugins provide the main features, input/output, etc. Plugins can be licensed separately (SDK to be released soon)
3D/4D Roadmaps Load and navigate multiple DICOM datasets; supports cine datasets
Multiple Modality Datasets MR, CT (DICOM images with geometry information), JPEG/PNG
DICOM Database Storage of DICOM images. Query and retrieve images from remote DICOM nodes
Volume Rendering Configurable rendering modes and properties, GPU acceleration
Surface Rendering Can be used to display segmented datasets
Mesh Painting Paint a surface using data from points
Configurable Visualization Layout 3D Only, 2D + 3D views, 2D only, multiple 3D windows
3D Points Create, manipulate and filter (based on configurable properties) 3D point clouds
Scanner Communication Can connect to real-time scan information via the Geometry Server (included) or OpenIGTLink. The Geometry Server can work with compatible scanner console software such as Vista.ai’s RTHawk Research (not included)
Real-time Imaging Display and control multiple interactive real-time imaging planes within the 3D view
Catheter Visualization Display multiple actively tracked catheters in 3D view
Catheter Following Update real-time imaging planes or static roadmap planes based on catheter position
Capturing Results Save screenshots and image streams
Interactive Landmark Registration Rigid, Affine, Similarity, and Thin Plate Spline landmark-based registration
Extensible Object Framework Define new types of objects for Vurtigo to render
2D Plots Framework for creating and displaying interactive 2D graphs
ROI Contours Draw contours on images or surfaces
Mesh tool Create a surface from contours
Mask tool Create a masked volume from contours
Import tool Import images, meshes, and volumes from external formats
The current version of Vurtigo is available as docker image for Linux systems with an X server.
sudo systemctl restart docker
Install x11docker:
git clone https://github.com/mviereck/x11docker.git
cd x11docker
sudo ./x11docker --install
This tool simplifies display sharing for containerized applications and manages a home directory so Vurtigo settings and storage persist across sessions.
docker pull labonny/vurtigo:v320
x11docker -m --gpu --runtime=nvidia --network --xauth=trusted -- -p 1777:1777 -p 18946:18946 -- labonny/vurtigo:v320
x11docker -m --gpu --share /home/myname/Data --runtime=nvidia --network --xauth=trusted -- -p 1777:1777 -p 18946:18946 -- labonny/vurtigo:v320
Vurtigo is currently available under the Modified BSD License. Older versions of Vurtigo may continue to be used under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1.
There is no warranty for Vurtigo.
The program and associated files are provided “as is” with no express or implied warranty. You agree to hold Sunnybrook Research Institute and its employees and students, as well as all involved in the development of the system, not liable in the event of damages resulting from the use of this product.
You understand that Sunnybrook Research Institute cannot provide support for this product. While we may release future, updated versions of the software and fix reported bugs, we are not obligated to do so. You are welcome to contact us with questions and bug reports, which we will address as we have time.
By the installation and/or use of Vurtigo, you agree to the following:
Vurtigo has been designed for research purposes only and has not been reviewed or approved
by the Food and Drug Administration or by any other agency. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT
CLINICAL APPLICATIONS ARE NEITHER RECOMMENDED NOR ADVISED. You further agree to use the
Software in compliance with all applicable governmental laws, regulations and orders, including
without limitation those relating to export and import control.
Vurtigo is not intended to replace the skill or judgment of a qualified medical practitioner
and should only be used by those who have been appropriately trained in its functions,
capabilities and limitations. You agree to hold harmless, indemnify and defend Sunnybrook
Research Institute from and against any losses, damages, fines and expenses (including
attorneys' fees and costs) arising out of or relating to your use of Vurtigo. THE ENTIRE
RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT AND DOCUMENTATION REMAINS WITH YOU.
Vurtigo uses Qt, VTK, CTK, DCMTK, ITK, and OpenIGTLink under their respective open-source licenses, available under the installation directory.
Minor modifications were made to two libraries to allow them to build in the Vurtigo environment. These are available on github: VTK, CTK.
When citing Vurtigo in your papers or presentations, please refer to the first paper in this list.
Radau PE, Pintilie S, Flor R, Biswas L, Oduneye S, Ramanan V, Anderson KA, Wright GA. VURTIGO: Visualization platform for real-time, MRI-guided cardiac electroanatomic mapping, Proceedings of Statistical Atlases and Computational Models of the Heart workshop (MICCAI workshop), Toronto, Sept. 22, 2011, View PDF
Pintilie S, Biswas L, Oduneye S, Anderson KA, Wright GA, Radau PE. Visualization platform for real-time, MRI-guided cardiac interventions, Proceedings 19th Scientific Meeting, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Montreal, May 7-13, 2011, Abstract#6887.
Pintilie S, Biswas L, Anderson KA, Wright GA, Radau P. Visualization software for real-time image-guided therapeutics in cardiovascular interventions, Medical image computing and computer-assisted intervention (MICCAI): Cardiac Interventional Imaging and Biophysical Modeling Workshop, London, England, Sept.20, View abstract and PDF, 2009.
You can extend Vurtigo by building your own C++ plugins using the SDK docker image. This image includes Vurtigo, the Geometry Server, and the developer tools needed to build plugins. Installation requirements are the same as for the main image.
Download the image using: docker pull labonny/vurtigo-sdk:v320
The SDK contains a sample plugin, “Camera Motion”, in the home directory “/home/vdev/CameraMotion”. A separate “Hello World” plugin is available on github. Follow the provided README to build these.
See the Vurtigo Design paper for a high-level description of Vurtigo’s design and plugin architecture.