Volume Rendering for Display of Multiple Organs, Treatment Objects, and Image Intensities

Volume rendering not only produces high quality 3D images of single organs directly from the intensity data in cr. MR, SPECf, PET, and ultrasound images, but it also can b:e used to show the relationship among multiple anatomic, treatment, and image objects. In this paper we will explain methods, show results, and discuss the effectiveness of 1. simultaneously volume rendering multiple organs from a single image data set, using transparency and colot:; 2. rendering polygonally defined treatment objects such as prostheses and radiation treatment beams with volume rendered anatomy. We will also discuss ongoing work in . 1. rendering multiple image sets, e.g., radiation dose distributions and medical image data, into a single image via volume rendering, e~g., to show the relation between isodose surfaces and anatomic objects; 2. texture mapping grey scale slices onto clipping planes on volume rendered anatomy, to show the relationship between physiological and anatomic data, or to show the subtle anatomic intensity variations in its 3D context