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A direct volume rendering visualization approach for serial PET–CT scans that preserves anatomical consistency

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International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Our aim was to develop an interactive 3D direct volume rendering (DVR) visualization solution to interpret and analyze complex, serial multi-modality imaging datasets from positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET–CT).

Methods

Our approach uses: (i) a serial transfer function (TF) optimization to automatically depict particular regions of interest (ROIs) over serial datasets with consistent anatomical structures; (ii) integration of a serial segmentation algorithm to interactively identify and track ROIs on PET; and (iii) parallel graphics processing unit (GPU) implementation for interactive visualization.

Results

Our DVR visualization more easily identifies changes in ROIs in serial scans in an automated fashion and parallel GPU computation which enables interactive visualization.

Conclusions

Our approach provides a rapid 3D visualization of relevant ROIs over multiple scans, and we suggest that it can be used as an adjunct to conventional 2D viewing software from scanner vendors.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded in part by the Australia Research Council (DP160103675).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical & Multimedia Information Technology Research Group, School of Computer Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Younhyun Jung, Jinman Kim, Lei Bi, Ashnil Kumar & David Dagan Feng

  2. Med-X Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    David Dagan Feng

  3. Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Michael Fulham

  4. Department of Molecular Imaging, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia

    Michael Fulham

Authors
  1. Younhyun Jung
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  2. Jinman Kim
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  3. Lei Bi
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  4. Ashnil Kumar
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  5. David Dagan Feng
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  6. Michael Fulham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinman Kim.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

For this type of study, formal consent is not required. The testing data were collected at our institution with approval from the institutional review board.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Jung, Y., Kim, J., Bi, L. et al. A direct volume rendering visualization approach for serial PET–CT scans that preserves anatomical consistency. Int J CARS 14, 733–744 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-019-01916-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-019-01916-2

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