Surface area estimation: A brief review

Abstract

Surface area and surface density are critical biological parameters, especially in organs such as the lungs, where the total available surface area affects the efficiency of gas exchange. Surface area estimation is widely used in magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) techniques to estimate the surface area of cerebral or other organs. As the applicability of the estimation can be expanded to other biological structures, a brief review of the topic would be useful. This short review therefore summarizes methods of estimating surface area.