2D display of a 3D tree for pulmonary embolism detection

The detection of pulmonary emboli (PE) is of critical importance in determining further treatment. PE visualization and detection methods applied to contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) images have been shown to facilitate diagnosis. Unfortunately, to date, these methods have imposed significant requirements for 3D navigation and manual vessel tracking. Consequently, we propose a novel method to minimize these requirements by visualizing the entire 3D tree structure within a single, though potentially very large, 2D image. The only navigation that is required is panning through a 2D image, similar to the way that a book is read: from left to right and top to bottom. Vessels are presented in a hierarchical order making them easy to trace, providing a straightforward systematic view of all portions of the vessel tree, without the necessity of viewing areas multiple times or potentially overlooking subtle abnormalities. We present preliminary results using this method. (c) 2005 CARS & Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.