Exploration of 4D MRI blood flow using stylistic visualization.
Insight into the dynamics of blood-flow considerably improves the understanding of the complex cardiovascular system and its pathologies. Advances in MRI technology enable acquisition of 4D blood-flow data, providing quantitative blood-flow velocities over time. The currently typical slice-by-slice analysis requires a full mental reconstruction of the unsteady blood-flow field, which is a tedious and highly challenging task, even for skilled physicians. We endeavor to alleviate this task by means of comprehensive visualization and interaction techniques. In this paper we present a framework for pre-clinical cardiovascular research, providing tools to both interactively explore the 4D blood-flow data and depict the essential blood-flow characteristics. The framework encompasses a variety of visualization styles, comprising illustrative techniques as well as improved methods from the established field of flow visualization. Each of the incorporated styles, including exploded planar reformats, flow-direction highlights, and arrow-trails, locally captures the blood-flow dynamics and may be initiated by an interactively probed vessel cross-section. Additionally, we present the results of an evaluation with domain experts, measuring the value of each of the visualization styles and related rendering parameters.
van Pelt
Roy
R
Eindhoven University of Technology. r.f.p.v.pelt@tue.nl
Oliván Bescós
Javier
J
Breeuwer
Marcel
M
Clough
Rachel E
RE
Gröller
M Eduard
ME
ter Haar Romenij
Bart
B
Vilanova
Anna
A
D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular