Tamas Heffter
Tomi Heffter was with the Perk Lab between 2009 and 2013 as software systems engineer. He continues to collaborate with the Perk Lab through one of our commercial partners, Precision Therapeutics.
Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Rankin, Adam; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Fichtinger, Gabor
PLUS: Open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems Journal Article
In: IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 61, no. 10, pp. 2527-2537, 2014, ISSN: 0018-9294.
@article{Lasso2014a,
title = {PLUS: Open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Adam Rankin and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Ungi and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2014a-manuscript.pdf},
doi = {10.1109/TBME.2014.2322864},
issn = {0018-9294},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-10-01},
urldate = {2014-10-01},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering},
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Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Rankin, Adam; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Fichtinger, Gabor
PLUS: open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems Journal Article
In: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering, vol. 61, iss. 10, pp. 2527-2537, 2014.
@article{fichtinger2014,
title = {PLUS: open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Adam Rankin and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Ungi and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6813647/},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-01-01},
journal = {IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering},
volume = {61},
issue = {10},
pages = {2527-2537},
publisher = {IEEE},
abstract = {A variety of advanced image analysis methods have been under the development for ultrasound-guided interventions. Unfortunately, the transition from an image analysis algorithm to clinical feasibility trials as part of an intervention system requires integration of many components, such as imaging and tracking devices, data processing algorithms, and visualization software. The objective of our paper is to provide a freely available open-source software platform—PLUS: Public software Library for Ultrasound—to facilitate rapid prototyping of ultrasound-guided intervention systems for translational clinical research. PLUS provides a variety of methods for interventional tool pose and ultrasound image acquisition from a wide range of tracking and imaging devices, spatial and temporal calibration, volume reconstruction, simulated image generation, and recording and live streaming of the acquired data. This paper …},
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pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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Lasso, Andras; Ungi, Tamas; Pinter, Csaba; Heffter, Tamas; Rankin, Adam; Fichtinger, Gabor
6th Image Guided Therapy Workshop, vol. 6, Crystal City, VA, USA, 2013.
@conference{Lasso2013a,
title = {Prototyping Clinical Applications with the Public Library for Ultrasound (PLUS) Toolkit and 3D Slicer},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Ungi and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Heffter and Adam Rankin and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {http://www.ncigt.org/publications/item/view/2334
https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2013a.pdf},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-03-01},
urldate = {2013-03-01},
booktitle = {6th Image Guided Therapy Workshop},
volume = {6},
pages = {34},
address = {Crystal City, VA, USA},
keywords = {},
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tppubtype = {conference}
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Imani, F; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Wu, Mark; Lasso, Andras; Burdette, E. Clif; Ghoshal, G; Heffter, Tamas; Williams, E; Neubauer, P; Fichtinger, Gabor; Mousavi, Parvin
Ultrasound-guided Characterization of Interstitial Ablated Tissue Using RF Time Series: Feasibility Study. Journal Article
In: IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering, 2013.
@article{Imani2013,
title = {Ultrasound-guided Characterization of Interstitial Ablated Tissue Using RF Time Series: Feasibility Study.},
author = {F Imani and Purang Abolmaesumi and Mark Wu and Andras Lasso and E. Clif Burdette and G Ghoshal and Tamas Heffter and E Williams and P Neubauer and Gabor Fichtinger and Parvin Mousavi},
url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23335657
https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Imani2013.pdf},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-01},
urldate = {2013-01-01},
journal = {IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering},
abstract = {<p>This paper presents the results of a feasibility study to demonstrate the application of ultrasound RF time series imaging to accurately differentiate ablated and non-ablated tissue. Methods: For 12 ex vivo and two in situ tissue samples, RF ultrasound signals are acquired prior to, and following, high intensity ultrasound ablation. Spatial and temporal features of these signals are used to characterize ablated and non-ablated tissue in a supervised-learning framework. Results: In crossvalidation evaluation, a subset of four features extracted from RF time series produce a classification accuracy of 84.5%, and an area under ROC curve of 0.91 for ex vivo data, and an accuracy of 85% for in situ data. Conclusion: Ultrasound RF time series is a promising approach for characterizing ablated tissue.</p>},
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Imani, Farhad; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Wu, Mark Z; Lasso, Andras; Burdette, Everett C; Ghoshal, Goutam; Heffter, Tamas; Williams, Emery; Neubauer, Paul; Fichtinger, Gabor; Mousavi, Parvin
Ultrasound-guided characterization of interstitial ablated tissue using RF time series: Feasibility study Journal Article
In: IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 60, iss. 6, pp. 1608-1618, 2013.
@article{fichtinger2013l,
title = {Ultrasound-guided characterization of interstitial ablated tissue using RF time series: Feasibility study},
author = {Farhad Imani and Purang Abolmaesumi and Mark Z Wu and Andras Lasso and Everett C Burdette and Goutam Ghoshal and Tamas Heffter and Emery Williams and Paul Neubauer and Gabor Fichtinger and Parvin Mousavi},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6412777/},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-01},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering},
volume = {60},
issue = {6},
pages = {1608-1618},
publisher = {IEEE},
abstract = {This paper presents the results of a feasibility study to demonstrate the application of ultrasound RF time series imaging to accurately differentiate ablated and nonablated tissue. For 12 ex vivo and two in situ tissue samples, RF ultrasound signals are acquired prior to, and following, high-intensity ultrasound ablation. Spatial and temporal features of these signals are used to characterize ablated and nonablated tissue in a supervised-learning framework. In cross-validation evaluation, a subset of four features extracted from RF time series produce a classification accuracy of 84.5%, an area under ROC curve of 0.91 for ex vivo data, and an accuracy of 85% for in situ data. Ultrasound RF time series is a promising approach for characterizing ablated tissue.},
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pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Fichtinger, Gabor
Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2012) - Systems and Architectures for Computer Assisted Interventions, The MIDAS Journal The MIDAS Journal, Nice, France, 2012.
@conference{Lasso2012d,
title = {Implementation of the PLUS open-source toolkit for translational research of ultrasound-guided intervention systems},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Ungi and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10380/3367
https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2012d.pdf
https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2012d-slides.pdf},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-10-01},
urldate = {2012-10-01},
booktitle = {Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2012) - Systems and Architectures for Computer Assisted Interventions},
pages = {1-12},
publisher = {The MIDAS Journal},
address = {Nice, France},
organization = {The MIDAS Journal},
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pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Chen, Thomas K.; Boucharin, Alexis; Fichtinger, Gabor
PLUS: An open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems development Conference
ImNO2012 - Imaging Network Ontario Symposium, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2012.
@conference{Lasso2012a,
title = {PLUS: An open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems development},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Ungi and Thomas K. Chen and Alexis Boucharin and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2012a.pdf},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-02-01},
urldate = {2012-02-01},
booktitle = {ImNO2012 - Imaging Network Ontario Symposium},
address = {Toronto, ON, Canada},
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Peikari, Mohammad; Chen, Thomas K.; Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Burdette, E. Clif; Fichtinger, Gabor
Characterization of ultrasound elevation beamwidth artifacts for prostate brachytherapy needle insertion Journal Article
In: Medical Physics, vol. 39, pp. 246-256, 2012, ISSN: 0094-2405.
@article{MPeikari2012,
title = {Characterization of ultrasound elevation beamwidth artifacts for prostate brachytherapy needle insertion},
author = {Mohammad Peikari and Thomas K. Chen and Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and E. Clif Burdette and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {http://online.medphys.org/resource/1/mphya6/v39/i1/p246_s1
https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/MPeikari2012.pdf},
doi = {10.1118/1.3669488},
issn = {0094-2405},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-01-01},
urldate = {2012-01-01},
journal = {Medical Physics},
volume = {39},
pages = {246-256},
abstract = {<p>Purpose: Ultrasound elevation beamwidth leads to image artefacts and uncertainties in localizing objects (such as a surgical needle) in ultrasound images. We examined the clinical significance of errors caused by elevation beamwidth artefacts and imaging parameters in needle insertion procedures. Method: Beveled prostate brachytherapy needles were inserted through all holes of a grid template under real-time transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guidance. The needle tip position as indicated by the TRUS image was compared to their observed physical location. A new device was developed to measure the ultrasound elevation beamwidth. Result: Imaging parameters of the TRUS scanner have direct impact on the localization error ranging from 0.5 mm upto 4 mm. The smallest localization error was observed laterally close to the center of the grid template, and axially within the beam’s focal zone. Largest localization error occurs laterally around both sides of the grid template, and axially within the beam’s far field. we also found that the localization errors vary with both lateral and elevation offsets. Conclusion: We found properly adjusting the TRUS imaging settings to lower the ultrasound gain and power effectively minimized the appearance of elevation beamwidth artefacts and in turn reduced the localization errors of the needle tip.</p>},
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Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Chen, Thomas K; Boucharin, Alexis; Fichtinger, Gabor
Plus: An open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems development Journal Article
In: ImNO2012-Imaging Network Ontario Symposium, vol. 2, pp. 2012, 2012.
@article{fichtinger2012q,
title = {Plus: An open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems development},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Ungi and Thomas K Chen and Alexis Boucharin and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {http://perk.cs.queensu.ca/sites/perkd7.cs.queensu.ca/files/Lasso2012a.pdf},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-01-01},
journal = {ImNO2012-Imaging Network Ontario Symposium},
volume = {2},
pages = {2012},
abstract = {Purpose: Ultrasound-guided intervention systems require the integration of many hardware and software components, such as ultrasound scanner, position tracking device, data processing algorithms, and visualization software. The objective of this work is to provide a free and sharable software toolkit–PLUS (Public software Library for UltraSound)–to facilitate rapid prototyping of ultrasound-guided intervention systems for translational clinical research.
Methods: The open-source SynchroGrab library for tracked ultrasound capturing and 3D reconstruction was released in 2008. We redesigned this monolithic library into a modular toolkit, each component was thoroughly tested, fixed, and enhanced, and several new functionalities were added. The toolkit now offers automatic spatial and temporal calibration methods. Standard data formats are used for streaming (OpenIGTLink) and storage (MetaIO image format with …},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Methods: The open-source SynchroGrab library for tracked ultrasound capturing and 3D reconstruction was released in 2008. We redesigned this monolithic library into a modular toolkit, each component was thoroughly tested, fixed, and enhanced, and several new functionalities were added. The toolkit now offers automatic spatial and temporal calibration methods. Standard data formats are used for streaming (OpenIGTLink) and storage (MetaIO image format with …
Chen, Thomas K.; Heffter, Tamas; Lasso, Andras; Pinter, Csaba; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Burdette, E. Clif; Fichtinger, Gabor
Automated Intraoperative Calibration for Prostate Cancer Brachytherapy Journal Article
In: Medical Physics, vol. 38, pp. 6285-6299, 2011.
@article{Chen2011,
title = {Automated Intraoperative Calibration for Prostate Cancer Brachytherapy},
author = {Thomas K. Chen and Tamas Heffter and Andras Lasso and Csaba Pinter and Purang Abolmaesumi and E. Clif Burdette and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Chen2011.pdf},
doi = {10.1118/1.3651690},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-11-01},
urldate = {2011-11-01},
journal = {Medical Physics},
volume = {38},
pages = {6285-6299},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
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Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Chen, Thomas K.; Boucharin, Alexis; Fichtinger, Gabor
PLUS: An open-source toolkit for developing ultrasound-guided intervention systems Conference
4th NCIGT and NIH Image Guided Therapy Workshop, vol. 4, Arlington VA, October 12-13, 2011, 2011.
@conference{Lasso2011c,
title = {PLUS: An open-source toolkit for developing ultrasound-guided intervention systems},
author = {Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Csaba Pinter and Tamas Ungi and Thomas K. Chen and Alexis Boucharin and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2011c.pdf
https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/Lasso2011c-poster.pdf},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-10-01},
urldate = {2011-10-01},
booktitle = {4th NCIGT and NIH Image Guided Therapy Workshop},
volume = {4},
pages = {103},
address = {Arlington VA, October 12-13, 2011},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
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Peikari, Mohammad; Chen, Thomas K.; Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Fichtinger, Gabor
Effects of Ultrasound Section-Thickness on Brachytherapy Needle Tip Localization Error Conference
Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2011), Toronto, ON, Canada, 2011.
@conference{MPeikari2011,
title = {Effects of Ultrasound Section-Thickness on Brachytherapy Needle Tip Localization Error},
author = {Mohammad Peikari and Thomas K. Chen and Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://labs.cs.queensu.ca/perklab/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/02/MPeikari2011a.pdf},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-01-01},
urldate = {2011-01-01},
booktitle = {Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2011)},
address = {Toronto, ON, Canada},
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}
Peikari, Mohammad; Chen, Thomas Kuiran; Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Fichtinger, Gabor
Effects of ultrasound section-thickness on brachytherapy needle tip localization error Journal Article
In: pp. 299-306, 2011.
@article{fichtinger2011p,
title = {Effects of ultrasound section-thickness on brachytherapy needle tip localization error},
author = {Mohammad Peikari and Thomas Kuiran Chen and Andras Lasso and Tamas Heffter and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-23623-5_38},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-01-01},
pages = {299-306},
publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg},
abstract = {Purpose: Ultrasound section-thickness is the out-of-plane beamwidth causing major roles in creating image artifacts normally appearing around the anechoic areas. These artifacts can introduce errors in localizing the needle tips during any ultrasound-guided procedure. To study how section-thickness and imaging parameters can affect observing and localizing needle tips, we have conducted a typical calibration setup experiment. Method: Multiple needles were inserted orthogonal to the axial image plane, at various distances from the transducer. The experiment was conducted on a brachytherapy stepper for a curvilinear transrectal-ultrasound probe. Result: Experiments demonstrated that the imaging parameters have direct impacts on observing needle tips at different axial locations. They suggest specific settings to minimize the imaging artifacts. Conclusion: The ultrasound section-thickness …},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Chen, Thomas Kuiran; Heffter, Tamas; Lasso, Andras; Pinter, Csaba; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Burdette, E Clif; Fichtinger, Gabor
Automated intraoperative calibration for prostate cancer brachytherapy Journal Article
In: Medical physics, vol. 38, iss. 11, pp. 6285-6299, 2011.
@article{fichtinger2011q,
title = {Automated intraoperative calibration for prostate cancer brachytherapy},
author = {Thomas Kuiran Chen and Tamas Heffter and Andras Lasso and Csaba Pinter and Purang Abolmaesumi and E Clif Burdette and Gabor Fichtinger},
url = {https://aapm.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1118/1.3651690},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-01-01},
journal = {Medical physics},
volume = {38},
issue = {11},
pages = {6285-6299},
publisher = {American Association of Physicists in Medicine},
abstract = {Purpose:
Prostate cancer brachytherapy relies on an accurate spatial registration between the implant needles and the TRUS image, called “calibration”. The authors propose a new device and a fast, automatic method to calibrate the brachytherapy system in the operating room, with instant error feedback.
Methods:
A device was CAD‐designed and precision‐engineered, which mechanically couples a calibration phantom with an exact replica of the standard brachytherapy template. From real‐time TRUS images acquired from the calibration device and processed by the calibration system, the coordinate transformation between the brachytherapy template and the TRUS images was computed automatically. The system instantly generated a report of the target reconstruction accuracy based on the current calibration outcome.
Results:
Four types of validation tests were conducted. First, 50 independent, real‐time …},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Prostate cancer brachytherapy relies on an accurate spatial registration between the implant needles and the TRUS image, called “calibration”. The authors propose a new device and a fast, automatic method to calibrate the brachytherapy system in the operating room, with instant error feedback.
Methods:
A device was CAD‐designed and precision‐engineered, which mechanically couples a calibration phantom with an exact replica of the standard brachytherapy template. From real‐time TRUS images acquired from the calibration device and processed by the calibration system, the coordinate transformation between the brachytherapy template and the TRUS images was computed automatically. The system instantly generated a report of the target reconstruction accuracy based on the current calibration outcome.
Results:
Four types of validation tests were conducted. First, 50 independent, real‐time …