Web ultrasound imaging simulator

The idea of a Web simulator for ultrasound imaging was born in respect to the necessity expressed by universities for a learning tool easily accessible to all students. Ultrasound simulators do exist, but their price or their applicability range often make them unsuitable. The UltraSimTM machine comprises a conventional ultrasound console, a transducer, a mannequin to simulate a patient and interactive software. It uses 3D sensors to detect the position of the probe and pre-implemented models to simulate the image. Although it has the great advantage of reproducing real-life conditions, its price is prohibitive for a teaching oriented overview of the medical imaging field. Multiple projects were build around simulating the ultrasound field. and we can quote here the FIELD simulator, developed by Jorgen Jensen, or the UltraSim Matlab toolbox, developed by Sverre Holm. The most related project to our work, in meaning and realization, is the Interactive Virtual Ultrasound Machine, developed at the Duke University, a Java applet that uses prerecorded images. In contrast, the Ultrasound Imaging Simulator UltSim is a generator of ultrasound images. which permits a higher flexibility, as it reproduces the functioning of an ultrasound machine. Being available on the Web allows portability on all systems and deports the execution of the programs on the server. The simulator covers the areas of B mode imaging, using linear or circular probe, and Doppler imaging, through color Doppler and sonogram observation. The two main constraints of the project were the response time of the simulator and the realism of the images. Multiple simplifications had to be made without degrading image realism.