The 10th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2007, was held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Bank, Brisbane, Australia, from 29th October to 2nd November 2007.
Over the last 10 years, MICCAI has become a premier international conference in this domain, featuring in-depth papers on the multidisciplinary f ields of biomedical image computing, computer-assisted intervention and medical robotics. The conference brings together biological scientists, clinicians, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, physicists and other interested researchers, and offers them a forum in which to exchange ideas in these exciting and rapidly growing areas.
The impact of the conference increases each year, and this year's record number of 637 submissions, from 35 countries and 6 continents, reflects its growth. The program committee, expanded this year to 71 members to provide a larger body of expertise and wider geographical coverage, had the difficult task of selecting 237 papers out of the globally high-quality pool of submissions, with many good papers remaining among the 400 rejected.
After the initial selection process was complete, the Program Chair and Co-Chair selected 38 of the most highly rated papers for podium presentation to create a program with a reasonable number of oral sessions and a representative spread of content. Of the papers accepted for presentation, 13 were selected for possible inclusion in this special MICCAI issue of Computer Aided Surgery. The selection was based on criteria including the suitability of the subject matter for the journal, original review comments, eligibility of the papers for MICCAI awards, and scores from the conference peer-review process, along with the quality of the presentations and posters during the meeting itself. In the end, 8 of the 13 invited papers successfully completed the regular review and revision process for Computer Aided Surgery and were accepted for inclusion in the special issue. One of these papers (by Bachta and colleagues) received a specific award during the conference.
The eight articles finally selected reflect the range of high-quality research presented at MICCAI 2007.
The first two papers describe the active use of computers in the feedback loop during an intervention, with Bachta et al. outlining the first results using a new active stabilizing device for cardiac surgery to compensate for the residual motion that remains when using standard stabilizers, while Xu et al. maintain 2D trans-rectal ultrasound images in registration with the prostate during a biopsy procedure using a similar feedback strategy. The paper by Dehghan et al. describes a means of modeling the tissue-needle interaction during a biopsy to improve targeting accuracy, and a motion model is also used by Moreno et al. in their paper describing CT-PET registration in the presence of patient respiration.
The next two papers deal with tracking issues in laparoscopic procedures. Wengert et al. describe a novel method for tracking the position of a suturing device based on its video appearance in the endoscopic image, while Feuerstein et al. describe a hybrid method for tracking a laparoscopic ultrasound transducer within the body cavity. The following paper by Leff et al. describes a novel means of using near infrared spectroscopy to assess cortical brain function, demonstrating its ability to detect differences in functional activity in surgeons with different levels of experience when engaged in a simple knot-tying task. Finally, Martel and colleagues outline issues surrounding the magnetic steering of a sphere inside a porcine carotid artery within a standard MR imager, where the propulsion forces are provided by the gradients within the MR imager itself. [Note: Due to space constraints, the papers by Leff et al. and Martel et al. will appear in the next issue (Volume 13, Number 6) of Computer Aided Surgery.]
In conclusion, we would like to thank all the reviewers who devoted their time and efforts to help us. Their contribution, together with the significant support from the editorial office, the MICCAI Society, and the MICCAI organizing board, made this special issue possible.