Dr. Wolfgang Wein ImFusion GmbH, Munich, Germany

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Short Profile

I am CEO of the R&D lab ImFusion and a senior research scientist in the field of medical image computing, working in the interdisciplinary cross-section of computer science, physics and medicine. Recent research focuses on improved 3D cone-beam X-Ray reconstruction techniques, including novel motion compensation approaches. Another area of interest (based on prior work at Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton), is ultrasound-based interventional navigation in various clinical specialties and all its associated computational challenges.

Dissertation

Title: Multimodal Integration of Medical Ultrasound for Treatment Planning and Interventions Abstract: Ultrasound is a popular, cost-effective and non-invasive medical imaging modality. If an ultrasound probe is equipped with a 3D position sensor, the acquired images can be obtained in their spatial context, a technique commonly denoted "3D freehand ultrasound". Combining ultrasound and a pre-operative Computed Tomography (CT) scan of the same patient can be beneficial for a number of clinical applications. The core of this thesis is the development of novel methods for fully automatic alignment (i.e. registration) of 3D freehand ultrasound and CT data, based on the image content and the physical properties of both modalities. In particular, a new method is proposed which simultaneously optimizes the linear combination of different ultrasonic effects simulated from CT, and the parameters for spatial alignment. This original concept allows local as well as global optimization of the simulation parameters, resulting in optimal registration of any modalities, where usual registration solutions do not succeed and explicit simulation of complex effects are necessary. Furthermore, we introduce new techniques for 3D freehand ultrasound calibration and reconstruction, as well as visualization of fused CT and ultrasound data. Two clinical applications are investigated in detail. We use a designated version of an automatic registration algorithm to integrate diagnostic ultrasound into radiation treatment planning for head and neck cancer. Our simultaneous optimization of simulation and registration is applied, in the context of treating liver and kidney metastases, for fusing CT with both diagnostic and interventional ultrasound of the abdomen. While diagnostic fusion helps doctors to assess indeterminate lesions in those organs, interventional fusion using our techniques allows for advanced image-guided navigation, in particular, for needle biopsies and radio-frequency ablations.

Dissertation Download as PDF

Publications

2013
	W. Wein, A. Ladikos, B. Fuerst, A. Shah, K. Sharma, N. Navab Global Registration of Ultrasound to MRI using the LC2 Metric for Enabling Neurosurgical Guidance Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Interventions (MICCAI), Nagoya, Japan, September 2013 (bib)
2012
	A. Ladikos, W. Wein Geometric calibration using bundle adjustment for cone-beam computed tomography devices SPIE Medical Imaging, February 2012, San Diego, USA. (bib)
	O. K. Oye, W. Wein, D. M. Ulvang, K. Matre, I. Viola Real Time Image-Based Tracking of 4D Ultrasound Data Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2012), Nice, France, October 2012 (bib)
	A. Aichert, W. Wein, A. Ladikos, T. Reichl, N. Navab Image-based tracking of the teeth for orthodontic augmented reality Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Interventions (MICCAI), Nice, France, October 2012 (bib)
	J. Beitzel, A. Ahmadi, A. Karamalis, W. Wein, N. Navab Ultrasound Bone Detection Using Patient-Specific CT Prior International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), San Diego, USA, September 1 2012. (bib)
	V. Solteszova, L.E.S. Helljesen, W. Wein, O.H. Gilja, I. Viola Lowest-Variance Streamlines for Filtering of 3D Ultrasound Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM) 2012, Norrköping, Sweden, September 2012 (bib)
	A. Karamalis, W. Wein, T. Klein, N. Navab Ultrasound Confidence Maps using Random Walks Medical Image Analysis, 16, 6, 1101 - 1112, 2012, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.media.2012.07.005 (bib)
2011
	L. Grady, S. Datta, O. Kutter, C. Duong, W. Wein, S. Little, S. Liu, M. Vannan Regurgitation Quantification using 3D PISA in Volume Echocardiography Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2011), Toronto, Canada, September 2011 (bib)
	W. Wein, A. Ladikos Detecting Patient Motion in Projection Space for Cone-beam Computed Tomography Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2011), Toronto, Canada, September 2011 (bib)
	W. Wein, A. Ladikos, A. Baumgartner Self-calibration of geometric and radiometric parameters for cone-beam computed tomography 11th International Meeting on Fully Three-Dimensional Image Reconstruction in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, July 11-15 2011, Potsdam, Germany. (bib)
2010
	O. Fluck, C. Vetter, W. Wein, A. Kamen, B. Preim, R. Westermann A survey of medical image registration on graphics hardware Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, November 2010 (bib)
	A. Karamalis, W. Wein, N. Navab Fast Ultrasound Image Simulation using the Westervelt Equation In Proc. International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), Beijing, China, September 20-24, 2010 (bib)
	C. Weiss, M. Seitz, K. Herrmann, A. Graser, B. Kiefer, M. Requardt, J. Fehre, R. Nanke, M. Diallo, A. Kamen, W. Wein MR-US Fusion for Targeted Prostate Biopsy International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) conference, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2010 (bib)
	W. Wein, O. Kutter, A. Aichert, D. Zikic, A. Kamen, N. Navab Automatic non-linear mapping of pre-procedure CT volumes to 3D ultrasound IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), Rotterdam, The Netherlands, April 14 - 17 2010. (bib)
2009
	W. Wein, E. Camus, M. John, M. Diallo, C. Duong, A. Al-Ahmad, R. Fahrig, A. Khamene, C. Xu Towards Guidance of Electrophysiological Procedures with Real-time 3D Intracardiac Echocardiography Fusion to C-arm CT Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2009), London, UK, September 2009 (bib)
	O. Kutter, W. Wein, N. Navab Multi-modal registration based Ultrasound Mosaicing Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), London, UK, September 20-24 2009 (bib)
	N. Fritz, T. Meyer, T. Blum, H.U. Lemke, M. Ilzkovitz, Y. Nevatia, M. Nolden, I. Wegner, M. Weinlich, R. Breitkreutz, W. Wein, M. Lazerges, O. Angerer, N. Navab CAMDASS: An Augmented Reality Medical Guidance System for Spaceflights Proceedings of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS 2009), Berlin, Germany, June 2009 (bib)
	O. Kutter, A. Karamalis, W. Wein, N. Navab A GPU-Based Framework for Simulation of Medical Ultrasound SPIE Medical Imaging, Orlando, Florida, USA, February 2009 (bib)
	A. Karamalis, W. Wein, O. Kutter, N. Navab Fast Hybrid Freehand Ultrasound Volume Reconstruction In Proc. SPIE Medical Imaging, Orlando, Florida, USA, February 2009 (bib)
2008
	C. Wachinger, W. Wein, N. Navab Registration Strategies and Similarity Measures for Three-dimensional Ultrasound Mosaicing Journal of the University Radiologists, Academic Radiology 15 (11), pp.1404-1415. Special issue of MICCAI 2007 (bib)
	W. Wein, S. Brunke, A. Khamene, M.R. Callstrom, N. Navab Automatic CT-Ultrasound Registration for Diagnostic Imaging and Image-guided Intervention Medical Image Analysis 12(5), pp 577-585, October 2008 (bib)
	W. Wein, J.-Z. Cheng, A. Khamene Ultrasound based Respiratory Motion Compensation in the Abdomen MICCAI 2008 Workshop on Image Guidance and Computer Assistance for Soft-Tissue Interventions, September 10 2008, New York City, USA. (bib)
	F. Bender, M. Groher, A. Khamene, W. Wein, H. Heibel, N. Navab 3D Dynamic Roadmapping for Abdominal Catheterizations Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI, 2008, New York, USA, September 6-10 2008 (bib)
	W. Wein, A. Khamene Image-Based Method for In-Vivo Freehand Ultrasound Calibration SPIE Medical Imaging, 16-21 February 2008, San Diego, California USA (bib)
2007
	W. Wein, A. Khamene, D.-A. Clevert, O. Kutter, N. Navab Simulation and Fully Automatic Multimodal Registration of Medical Ultrasound Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2007), Brisbane, Australia, October 2007. Received the MICCAI 2007 Young Scientist Award. (bib)
	W. Wein, M. Blume, U. Leischner, H.-U. Dodt, N. Navab Quality-based Registration and Reconstruction of Optical Tomography Volumes Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2007), Brisbane, Australia, October 2007 (bib)
	C. Wachinger, W. Wein, N. Navab Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Mosaicing Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI, 2007, Brisbane, Australia, October 29 - November 2 2007 (bib)
	M. Blume, D. Zikic, W. Wein, N. Navab A New and General Method for Blind Shift-Variant Deconvolution of Biomedical Images Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2007), Brisbane, Australia, October 2007 (bib)
	C. Wachinger, W. Wein, N. Navab Ultrasound Volume Stitching 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Computer-und Roboter-Assistierte Chirurgie (CURAC 2007), Karlsruhe, Germany, October 2007 (bib)
	W. Wein, B. Röper, N. Navab Integrating diagnostic B-mode ultrasonography into CT-based radiation treatment planning IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 26 (June 2007), pp. 866–879 (bib)
	M.S. Burns, M. Haidacher, W. Wein, I. Viola, E. Gröller Feature Emphasis and Contextual Cutaways for Multimodal Medical Visualization EuroVis 2007 conference, Norrköping, Sweden, May 2007 (link) (bib)
	M. John, Y. Sun, S. Kadoury, W. Wein, Y. Li, J. Resnick, G. Plambeck, A. Dempsey, A. Al-Ahmad, R. Fahrig, F. Sauer Fusion of Intracardiac Ultrasound with 3D Cardiac C-arm CT from Animal Data for Electrophysiology Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin, Munich, Germany, March 2007 (bib)
2006
	D. Zikic, W. Wein, A. Khamene, D.-A. Clevert, N. Navab Fast Deformable Registration of 3D-Ultrasound Using a Variational Approach Proceedings of Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2006), Copenhagen, Denmark, October 2006 (bib)
	W. Wein, F. Pache, B. Röper, N. Navab Backward-Warping Ultrasound Reconstruction for Improving Diagnostic Value and Registration Proceedings of Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2006), Copenhagen, Denmark, October 2006 (bib)
	B. Röper, W. Wein, P. Kneschaurek, M. Molls, M. Dobritz, N. Navab Image-based fusion of diagnostic ultrasound and planning CT for radiotherapy of head and neck cancer – a way towards improvement of regional target volume delineation 12. Jahreskongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Radioonkologie (DEGRO), May 2006, Dresden, Germany (bib)
	A. Khamene, P. Bloch, W. Wein, M. Svatos, F. Sauer Automatic Registration of Portal Images and Volumetric CT for Patient Positioning in Radiation Therapy Medical Image Analysis 10 (2006), pages 96-112 (bib)
	A. Khamene, R. Chisu, W. Wein, N. Navab, F. Sauer A Novel Projection Based Approach for Medical Image Registration Third International Workshop on Biomedical Image Registration (WBIR), 9-11 July 2006, Utrecht, The Netherlands. (bib)
2005
	W. Wein, B. Röper, N. Navab Automatic Registration and Fusion of Ultrasound with CT for Radiotherapy 8th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), October 2005, Palm Springs, California USA. (bib)
	W. Wein, B. Röper, N. Navab 2D/3D Registration Based on Volume Gradients SPIE Medical Imaging, 12-17 February 2005, San Diego, California USA (bib)
2004
	W. Wein, B. Röper, N. Navab 2D/3D Registration Based on Volume Gradients CURAC, October 2004, Munich (bib)
	G. Klinker, H. Najafi, T. Sielhorst, F. Sturm, F. Echtler, M. Isik, W. Wein, C. Truebswetter FixIt: An Approach towards Assisting Workers in Diagnosing Machine Malfunctions Proc. of the International Workshop on Design and Engineering of Mixed Reality Systems - MIXER 2004, Funchal, Madeira, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (bib)
2003
	T. Reicher, Chr. Schwingenschlögl, W. Wein Network Emulation for Application Development in Heterogeneous Networks 8th International Workshop on Mobile Multimedia Communications, Munich, Germany, Oct. 7, 2003. (bib)

Teaching

Wintersemester 2012/2013

• Lecture Computer Aided Medical Procedures (CAMP)

Wintersemester 2011/2012

• Lecture Computer Aided Medical Procedures (CAMP)

Wintersemester 2004/2005

• Tutorübung zu Einführung in die Informatik III
• Lecture Intra-operative Imaging & Visualization

Sommersemester 2004

• Tutorial of lecture 3D Computer Vision
• Praktikum Intra-operative Imaging & Visualization
• Seminar Methods & Tools of Medical Imaging

Wintersemester 2003/2004

• Lecture Intra-operative Imaging & Visualization

Supervision

• Diplomarbeit: Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Mosaicing (Christian Wachinger)
• Diplomarbeit: Fully automatic calibration of tracked ultrasound systems (Oliver Kutter)
• Diplomarbeit: Variational Deformable Registration for Medical Applications (Darko Zikic)
• Diplomarbeit: Reconstruction and Visualization of 3D Freehand Ultrasound (Fabian Pache)
• Diplomarbeit: Implementation of 2D/3D Registration algorithms using GPU hardware (Razvan Chisu). Download as PDF
• Diplomarbeit: New Volume Rendering Techniques for Image Registration (Peter Lücke)
• Diplomarbeit: PET-MR registration of animal scanner data for attenuation correction (Diego Vivancos, in collaboration with Nuklearmedizinische Klinik der TUM ). Download as PDF
• IDP: Cell nucleus classification & segmentation (Uli Klank)
• IDP: Image Registration and Merging for a new Optical Tomography (Moritz Blume)
• IDP: MR Based Attenuation Maps for PET Measurements (Darko Zikic)
• SEP: Development of a 3D Freehand Ultrasound Application (Florian Krüger)
• SEP: User Interface for Realignment and Fusion of 3D Modalities (Henning Herbers)
• SEP: Distributed Computing of 3D/3D Registration algorithms (Thorben Flämig)

Diploma Thesis

My Diploma Thesis with the title Intensity Based Rigid 2D-3D Registration Algorithms for Radiation Therapy .

Curriculum Vitae

• 10/1999 - 01/2004: Computer science (minor physics) at Technische Universität München.
• 02/2001 - 04/2001: Internship at the IT department of the Infineon maskhouse (MH DPT), Munich (evaluation of log files of litographic mask writers for statistical process control).
• 02/2002 - 04/2002: Interdisciplinary project at the new experimental nuclear reactor FRM-II in Garching (development of a framework for network based instrument control of neutron scattering experiments).
• 07/2002 - 09/2002: Participation in the IBM Extreme Blue Summer Internship in Boeblingen. I was working in the Life Science project and developed an integrated 2D/3D chemical structure editor.
• 04/2003 - 10/2003: Internship at Siemens Corporate Research , Princeton, USA. Within the scope of my diploma thesis I was working on 2D/3D registration for patient positioning in radiation therapy.
• 11/2003 - 02/2006: Ph.D. student at the new chair I16 of Prof. Nassir Navab, in collaboration with Siemens Corporate Research.
• 03/2006 - 04/2010: Research Scientist at Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton NJ USA.
• 05/2010 - 07/2012: CTO at White Lion Technologies AG, Munich, Germany.
• 08/2012 - today: CEO at ImFusion GmbH, Munich, Germany.