Real-time direct volume rendering in functional magnetic resonance imaging |
| |
Authors: | J Hesser R Männer D F Braus G Ende F A Henn |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Department Informatic V, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany;(2) Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany;(3) NMR-Research in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, P.O. Box 122 120, D 68072 Mannheim, Germany |
| |
Abstract: | Direct volume rendering is a visualization method that allows display of all information hidden in three-dimensional data
sets of, for example, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In contrast to commonly used surface rendering
methods, these algorithms need no preprocessing but suffer from a high computational complexity. A real-time rendering system,
VIRIM (Vitec: Visualization Technology GmbH, Mannheim, Germany), cuts down rendering times of minutes on normal workstations
to an interactive rate of 1 second or less. The immediate visual feedback allows interactive steering of the visualization
process to achieve insight into the internal three-dimensional structure of objects. Additional information is obtained by
using an interactive gray-value segmentation tool that both allows segmentation of the data set according to bone, tissue,
and liquor and display of multifunctional data sets (e.g., functional MRI fMRI] data sets). Thus, real-time direct volume
rendering allows segmentation and volume data processing of functional and anatomical MR data sets simultaneously. As this
method can be integrated in the clinical routine, it is of great importance for real-time motion artifact detection and the
interpretation of fMRI data acquired during cognitive experiments with normal subjects and psychiatric patients. Because of
the free programmability of VIRIM, more complex matching procedures are currently being investigated for future implementation. |
| |
Keywords: | direct volume rendering real-time segmentation functional imaging nuclear magnetic resonance neuroscience |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|