OpenIGTLink
The goal of OpenIGTLink is to provide a standardized mechanism to connect software/hardware through the network for image-guided therapy (IGT) applications. The features of OpenIGTLink include:
- Open. OpenIGTLink specifications are open and can be used for any applications, including commercial products, free of charge.
- Simple. Developers can easily adapt their own software/hardware to OpenIGTLink specifications.
- Platform independent. OpenIGTLink supports a wide range of devices from embedded system to high performance computers.
- Ready-to-use. OpenIGTLink is supported in NA-MIC's medical image processing and visualization platform 3D Slicer.
Protocol
The OpenIGTLink protocol was originally developed in 2008. In 2010, the protocol was extended with several new data type support, while maintaining backward compatibility. The new extended protocol has been released as OpenIGTLink Version 2 protocol.
OpenIGTLink Version 2
OpenIGTlink Version 1 (old)
Extended Protocols
Software/Hardware
Reference Library
- C/C++
- Matlab / Octave (under development)
Interfaces / Software
Hardware
Please see the list of hardware that supports the OpenIGTLink Protocol.
Integration of transperineal prostate robot and navigation software (BRP -- Brigham and Women's Hospital/Johns Hopkins University/Queen's University/Acoustic MedSystems)
Prototype integration of a neurosurgical robot and 3D Slicer v3 using OpenIGTLink (Hideo Fujimoto, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan)
Screenshot of tracker tool visualization on 3D Slicer (Brigham and Women's Hospital)
Integration of transperineal prostate robot (BRP -- Brigham and Women's Hospital/Johns Hopkins University/Queen's University/Acoustic MedSystems)
Tutorials/Events
- Tutorial Materials
- Tutorials on image-guided therapy (IGT) using Slicer 3 and OpenIGTLink are available at IGT:ToolKit
- Tutorial on 3D Slicer and Tracker simulator in 3D Slicer OpenIGTLink IF Documentation page.
- Meetings / Workshops
References
- Publications
- Tokuda J, Fischer GS, Papademetris X, Yaniv Z, Ibáñez L, Cheng P, Liu H, Blevins J, Arata J, Golby AJ, Kapur T, Pieper S, Burdette EC, Fichtinger G, Tempany CM, Hata N. OpenIGTLink: an open network protocol for image-guided therapy environment. Int J Med Robot. 2009 Dec;5(4):423-34.
- Related web pages
- Slicer 3 Image-Guided Therapy (IGT) suite
- Slicer 3 Daemon Another network interface in 3D Slicer
- OpenDMTP - Open Device Monitoring and Tracking Protocol
- Uniform Driver Interface (UDI)
- Debian Source Package: OpenIGTLink
Support
License
New BSD license ©2008 Insight Software Consortium
Mailing List / Contact
We are launching the OpenIGTLink mailing list (openigtlink@bwh.harvard.edu). If you would like to join, please subscribe from OpenIGTLink ML Info Page or send Junichi Tokuda (tokuda at bwh.harvard.edu) a message with:
- Your name
- e-mail address you would like to use to post and receive ML articles on
- Affiliation
- Your research topic
Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- Luis Ibáñez, Ph.D., Kitware, Inc.
- Junichi Tokuda, Ph.D., BWH
- Csaba Csoma, John's Hopkins University
- Jack Blevins, Acoustic MedSystems, Inc.
- Patrick Cheng, Ph.D., Georgetown University
- Haying Liu, Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Kiyoyuki Chinzei, Ph.D., National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
- Jumpei Arata, Ph.D., Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
- Steve Pieper, Ph.D., Isomics, Inc.
- Yuichiro Hayashi, Ph.D., Nagoya University, Japan
- Atsushi Yamada, Ph.D., Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
- Insight Software Consortium
- Funding Support
- Enabling Technologies for MRI-Guided Prostate Interventions funded by NIH (PI: Clare Tempany, MD)
- National Center for Image-Guided Therapy (NCIGT)
- National Alliance for Medical Image Computing (NA-MIC)
- Intelligent Surgical Instrument Project sponsored by The Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan
