Visualization Techniques for 3d Multimodal Medical Datasets: a Survey by Paul Corneliu Herghelegiu

Accurate medical diagnosis based on images acquired with various medical imaging techniques commonly requires multiple images inspection. These images can be obtained using the same scanning technique but with different scanning parameters. Alternatively, the physicians can use images obtained with different scanning equipments. The visualization of multimodal data in the same rendering scene currently represents a growing avenue of research, with multiple results. This paper aims to give the reader an overview of recent innovations in multimodal visualization techniques used nowadays by physicians in their clinical practices. Several types of data combining methods are presented, such as CTMRI, MRI-fMRI, CT-SPECT or 3D ultrasound-CT or MRI, each one being suited for a typical type of pathology. Since the structure of the combined data usually presents significant differences, there is no general method that can be applied. The theoretical concepts of combining the mentioned types of data are presented along with their use in the medical imaging field. A short introduction to commonly used medical scanning techniques is also presented.