RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 PET-CT visualisation with integrated maximum intensity projection and direct volume rendering
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine
JO J Nucl Med
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 180
OP 180
VO 50
IS supplement 2
A1 Kim, J
A1 Eberl, Stefan
A1 Fulham, Michael
A1 Feng, David
YR 2009
UL http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/50/supplement_2/180.abstract
AB 180 Objectives Maximum intensity projection (MIP) volume-rendered PET data aids image interpretation. However, the lack of visual depth cues in MIPs obscures potentially vital data. MIP CT can be fused with MIP PET to provide anatomical information but such rendering still lacks visual depth. Further, there is an inability to manipulate and navigate the MIP in the volume renderings that are used to animate depth cues. Our aim was to improve PET-CT visualisation by retaining the advantages of MIP PET and provide depth cues from direct volume rendering (DVR) of its counterpart CT in interactive volume rendering. Methods PET-CT data (Siemens Biograph TrueV 64) were volume rendered individually with MIP for PET and DVR for CT and the resultant volumes were fused in real-time. Unlike MIP which renders the highest voxel value in the viewing plane, DVR maps opacity and colour to every voxel and thus retains depth in the rendering. This was performed using the fast in-built rendering capabilities of a consumer PC (512Mb Nvidia Quadro FX 1600M graphics card; 2.4GHz Intel Core2 Duo; 2GB RAM) and texture-based rendering / shading approaches. Results We developed aPET-CT viewer and renderings were subjected to real-time volume manipulation / navigation. LUT presets were configured for DVR CT corresponding to default whole-body and specific organs, e.g. lung and brain. The result was an interactive and integrated animation ( > 20 frames per second) of PET-CT with high rendering quality. Conclusions Our new visualisation approach can potentially improve PET-CT interpretation by enabling the MIP PET to be visualised within its depth-preserved anatomical counterpart from DVR CT in interactive volume rendering. Research Support ARC and PolyU Grants.