Interactive Visualization of 3D Medical Data. Revision

Abstract : The increasing use of CT, MRI, and other multi-slice imaging modalities in medicine has inspired the development of new techniques for visualizing multi-dimensional data. This paper compares the three currently dominant techniques for displaying three-dimensional medical data: surface-based rendering, binary voxel rendering, and volume rendering. It also describes some of the display hardware being developed to help visualize these datasets: stereo viewers, varifocal mirrors, real-time image generation systems, and head-mounted displays. Particular emphasis is given to real-time volume rendering because current research suggests that it may become the method of choice for many clinical applications. Keywords: Visualization, Medical imaging, Voxel, Volume rendering; Image processing. (kt)