Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Geometric Model Reconstruction
3.1
Introduction
Computational reconstruction of the human cardiovascular structures can be divid-
ed into four stages: image acquisition, data conversion, segmentation and surface
reconstruction. The development of a model first begins with medical imaging of
the anatomy which can be obtained from various sources, yet all provide essentially
similar information. This includes a 3D matrix (or series of 2D matrices) of volume
elements (voxels), in which tissues and structures are distinguished by differences
in brightness or greyscale. Two dimensional slices contain pixel data; while a voxel
is the three dimensional analogy of a pixel where the third dimension is the spatial
distance between each slice.
Visualizing and reconstructing morphological structures from scanned images
is an area of active research. This chapter provides an overview of contemporary
methods for image processing, edge detection, and surface and volume definitions,
for both clinical and research images of cardiovascular structures. Specifically,
computer algorithms are developed for the delineation of anatomical structures
and other regions of interest. This includes image segmentation which is central
in model reconstruction and many other biomedical imaging applications of ana-
tomical structure, and pathologies (e.g. stenosis, and related cardiovascular disease
identification).
3.2
Medical Image Acquistion
To identify the cardiovascular geometry various medical imaging modalities can be
used. In this section we provide an introduction to Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI), or Computed Tomography (CT) imaging modalities, and describe specific
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