title: Curved-slab maximum intensity projection: method and evaluation.
abstract: The authors developed and evaluated a method to produce curved-slab maximum intensity projections (MIPs) through blood vessels that semiautomatically excludes soft tissue and bone. Results obtained with the algorithm were compared with those obtained with rectangular-slab MIPs by using computed tomographic (CT) data from four patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms. Curved-slab MIPs exhibited increased mean vessel-to-perivascular tissue contrast of 55.1 HU (36%), allowed a 10% increase in contrast-to-noise ratio, and decreased apparent vessel narrowing by 0.12-1.09 mm, without increasing processing time. Curved-slab MIPs may also include multiple vessels in a single image, thereby improving interpretation efficiency by reducing the number of MIPs required in these patients from eight to three.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5105, USA.
authors.forename: Raghav
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raman
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Napel
authors.forename: Geoffrey D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Rubin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*