Diagnostic Relevant Visualization of Vascular Structures

Traditional volume visualization techniques sometimes provide incomplete clinical information needed for applications in medical visualization. In the area of vascular visualization important features such as the lumen of a diseased vessel segment may not be visible. One way to display vascular structures for diagnostic purposes is to generate longitudinal cross-sections in order to show their lumen, wall, and surrounding tissue in a curved plane. Curved planar reformation (CPR) has proven to be an acceptable practical solution. We discuss four different methods to generate CPR images from single vessel segments: Projected CPR, stretched CPR, straightened CPR, and helical CPR. Furthermore we investigate three different methods for displaying vascular trees: Multi-path projected CPR, multi-path stretched CPR, and untangled CPR. The principle concept of each method is discussed and detailed information for the realization is given. In addition the properties, advantages and disadvantages of each method are summarized.