Volumetric analysis of CT orbital images.

The determination of the volume of eye muscles is a problem of considerable interest in Graves' ophtalmopathy both with respect to the diagnostic quantisation of the disease and to the measured assessment of the effectiveness of pharmacological treatment. The aim of this research is to design and test an advanced method for processing computerised tomography (CT) orbital images in order to obtain a three-dimensional reconstruction of infra-orbital muscle structures and to analyse them from a morphometric viewpoint. CT images of subjects suffering from Graves' disease were acquired before and after pharmacological treatment with immunosuppressors. They were then processed along with CT images of an anatomical phantom of known volume and fusiform morphology in order to assess the reliability of the procedure and to calculate the effect of the different modalities of acquisition and processing of CT images on the error in volume calculation.