Visualization of Time-Varying MRI Data for MS Lesion Analysis

Visualization of Time-Varying MRI Data for MS Lesion Analysis

Abstract

Conventional methods to diagnose and follow treatment of Multiple Sclerosis require radiologists and technicians to compare current images with older images of a particular patient, on a slice-by-slice basis. Although there has been progress in creating 3D displays of medical images, little attempt has been made to design visual tools that emphasize change over time. We implemented several ideas that attempt to address this deficiency. In one approach, isosurfaces of segmented lesions at each time step were displayed either on the same image (each time step in a different color), or consecutively in an animation. In a second approach, voxel-wise differences between time steps were calculated and displayed statically using ray casting. Animation was used to show cumulative changes over time. Finally, in a method borrowed from computational fluid dynamics (CFD), glyphs (small arrow-like objects) were rendered with a surface model of the lesions to indicate changes at localized points.

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Authors
  • Tory, Melanie
  • Möller, Torsten
  • Atkins, M. Stella
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Supplemental Material
Shortfacts
Category
Paper in Conference Proceedings or in Workshop Proceedings (Full Paper in Proceedings)
Event Title
SPIE International Symposium on Medical Imaging
Divisions
Visualization and Data Analysis
Subjects
Computergraphik
Event Location
San Diego, California
Event Type
Conference
Event Dates
February 17
Date
February 2001
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