@article {802,
	title = {The image-guided surgery toolkit IGSTK: an open source C++ software toolkit.},
	journal = {J Digit Imaging},
	volume = {20 Suppl 1},
	year = {2007},
	month = {2007 Nov},
	pages = {21-33},
	abstract = {This paper presents an overview of the image-guided surgery toolkit (IGSTK). IGSTK is an open source C++ software library that provides the basic components needed to develop image-guided surgery applications. It is intended for fast prototyping and development of image-guided surgery applications. The toolkit was developed through a collaboration between academic and industry partners. Because IGSTK was designed for safety-critical applications, the development team has adopted lightweight software processes that emphasizes safety and robustness while, at the same time, supporting geographically separated developers. A software process that is philosophically similar to agile software methods was adopted emphasizing iterative, incremental, and test-driven development principles. The guiding principle in the architecture design of IGSTK is patient safety. The IGSTK team implemented a component-based architecture and used state machine software design methodologies to improve the reliability and safety of the components. Every IGSTK component has a well-defined set of features that are governed by state machines. The state machine ensures that the component is always in a valid state and that all state transitions are valid and meaningful. Realizing that the continued success and viability of an open source toolkit depends on a strong user community, the IGSTK team is following several key strategies to build an active user community. These include maintaining a users and developers{\textquoteright} mailing list, providing documentation (application programming interface reference document and book), presenting demonstration applications, and delivering tutorial sessions at relevant scientific conferences.},
	keywords = {Computer Systems, Data Display, Database Management Systems, Humans, Information Dissemination, Information Storage and Retrieval, Safety, Software, Software Design, Software Validation, Surgery, Computer-Assisted, Systems Integration, User-Computer Interface},
	issn = {0897-1889},
	doi = {10.1007/s10278-007-9054-3},
	author = {Enquobahrie, Andinet and Cheng, Patrick and Gary, Kevin and Ibanez, Luis and Gobbi, David and Lindseth, Frank and Yaniv, Ziv and Aylward, Stephen and Jomier, Julien and Cleary, Kevin}
}
