Brain Region Extraction and Direct Volume Rendering of MRI Head Data

Abstract

This paper proposes a new 3D visualization method for MRI head data based upon direct volume rendering. Surface rendering has difficulties in displaying speckles due to information loss during the surface construction procedure, whereas direct volume rendering does not have this problem, though managing MR head image data is not an easy task. In our method, brain structures are extracted from MR images, and then embedded back into the remaining regions. To extract the brain structure, we use a combination of thresholding, morphology and SNAKES operations. Experimental results show that our method makes it possible to simultaneously visualize all the anatomical organs of human brains in three dimensions. © Springer-Verlag 2004.