Chapter 7: Advanced Applications of Volume Visualization Methods in Medicine

This chapter summarizes the state-of-the-art application o f techniques developed over the recent years for visualizing volumetric medical data acquired by modern medical imaging modalities such as com ­ puted tomography (CT), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), magnetic resonance imaging (M RI), nuclear medicine, three-dimensional (3D )-ultrasound, laser confocal microscopy, etc. Although all of the modalities provide ""slices o f the body,"" significant differences exist between the image content of each modality. The focus of this chapter is less in explaining algorithms and rendering techniques, but rather to point out their applicability, benefits, and potential in the medical environment.