  In 2010, gynecologic malignancies were the 4th leading cause of death in U.S.
women and for patients with extensive primary or recurrent disease, treatment
with interstitial brachytherapy may be an option. However, brachytherapy
requires precise insertion of hollow catheters with introducers into the tumor
in order to eradicate the cancer. In this study, a software solution to assist
interstitial gynecologic brachytherapy has been investigated and the software
has been realized as an own module under (3D) Slicer, which is a free open
source software platform for (translational) biomedical research. The developed
research module allows on-time processing of intra-operative magnetic resonance
imaging (iMRI) data over a direct DICOM connection to a MR scanner. Afterwards
follows a multi-stage registration of CAD models of the medical brachytherapy
devices (template, obturator) to the patient's MR images, enabling the virtual
placement of interstitial needles to assist the physician during the
intervention.
