Medical volume exploration: gaining insights virtually

Since modern imaging modalities deliver huge amounts of data, which cannot be assessed easily, the visualization techniques are utilized to emphasize the structures of interest. To compare them, the different visualization techniques (maximum intensity projection, multiplanar reformations, shaded surface display and volume rendering) are regressed to a common ground whereby their strengths and weaknesses can be revealed. Additionally, medical image analysis can detect anatomical objects in volumetric data sets and provides their descriptions for further use. Usually, segmentation plays a crucial roll in that process. There are many segmentation methods which can be categorized in boundary-based and content-based ones. The extraction of anatomical objects also allows their quantification. Image analysis and visualization do not squeeze more information out of a data volume, but they provide different ways to look at it. As in real life, this alone may enlarge the insight. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.