Abstract
Manual curation of tractograms is time-consuming and challenging due to complex fiber structures. Virtual reality (VR) may offer a more intuitive way to interact with tractograms than Desktop visualization. Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of VR in enhancing spatial understanding of anatomical structures; however, its effectiveness for manual tractography editing remains unexplored. This study evaluated whether VR improves fiber editing performance in terms of execution time and accuracy, whether it supports intra-participant reproducibility, and whether it is easier to use than a Desktop interface. Thirty participants edited five cases from the Human Connectome Project Young Adult dataset under both VR and Desktop conditions. Performance was evaluated using a fiber-overlap coefficient (FOC) relative to an expert reference, along with task duration, number of interactions, number of updates, intra-participant repeatability, and System Usability Scale (SUS) ratings. Task duration was significantly shorter in VR than in Desktop, corresponding to an estimated 17.5 \% reduction in editing time. The mean FOC was marginally higher in VR; however, no significant overall difference was observed between the conditions. Reproducibility was numerically more favorable in VR but remained limited in both conditions. The mean SUS score was higher in VR (77.50 ± 10.26) than in Desktop (60.00 ± 19.45). VR mainly improved efficiency and user satisfaction, enabling faster and more highly rated editing than Desktop while maintaining comparable accuracy.
Links to Paper and Supplementary Materials
Main Paper (Open Access Version): https://papers.miccai.org/miccai-2026-sat/paper/cdmri_001.pdf
SharedIt Link: Not yet available
SpringerLink (DOI): Not yet available
Supplementary Material: Not Submitted
Link to Open Review
Open Review Page: https://openreview.net/forum?id=eA7qfhGuvb
BibTex
@InProceedings{NanTin_Experimental_MICCAISAT2026,
author = { Nantenaina, Tina N. H. AND Rushmore, R. Jarrett AND Bouix, Sylvain},
title = { { Experimental Study of the Impact of Virtual Reality on Fiber Bundle Editing and Annotation } },
booktitle = {Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention -- MICCAI 2026 Workshops and Challenges},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland},
volume = {LNCS 17278},
month = {pending},
page = {pending}
}