Clinical Usefulness of Virtual Angioscopy Using 3D MR Angiography DICOM Images

Abstract

Objective : To evaluate of virtual angioscopy was implemented using MR(magnetic resonance) angiography image of carotid artery. Methods : The endoscopy system provides a 3D volume rendered image as a navigation map and has the multi planar reformation image along the path and a 2D axial image as a reference image. We segmented the common carotid artery and internal, external carotid artery from the MR angiography image. We used the coordinates as a navigation path for virtual camera that were calculated from medial axis transformation. We used the perspective projection and marching cube algorithm to render the surface from volumetric MR angiography image data. Results : The virtual angioscopy is highly recommended as a diagnosis tool with which the specific place of stenosis can be identified and the degree of stenosis can be measured qualitatively. Conclusion : Virtual angioscopy is one of the powerful tool for non-invasive carotid artery and many in-vitro, in-vivo studies have shown the artery stenosis detection. Inside of the carotid artery is one of the body region not accessible by real optical endoscopy but can be visualized with virtual endoscopy.