Integrated visualization of brain anatomy and cerebral blood vessels

In this presentation, we discuss methods for an integrated display of cerebral blood vessels and brain structures using 3-D CT, MRI and MR Angiography images. We present methods for a three-dimensional semi-automatic delineation of brain structures in tomographic image sequences. Non-linear morphologic filters are applied to the MRA images to selectively enhance the blood vessel signal while suppressing the surrounding tissue. The geometric registration between the different cross-sectional imaging modalities is performed by the use of stereotactic frames, by matching of interactively indicated anatomical markers and by matching of corresponding anatomical surfaces. An integrated visualization of blood vessels and brain structures is obtained by a hybrid volume rendering method combining a maximum intensity projection with a transparent gray level gradient method.