Biomedical Imaging Lab, Agency for Science Technology and Research, 30 Biopolis Street, #07-01 Matrix, Singapore 138671, Singapore.
Neuroinformatics. 2009 Dec;7(4):255-64. doi: 10.1007/s12021-009-9055-0.
The knowledge of cerebrovascular variants is essential in education, training, diagnosis and treatment. The current way of presentation of vasculature and, particularly, vascular variants is insufficient. Our purpose is to construct a three-dimensional (3D) interactive atlas of cerebral arterial variants along with exploration tools allowing the investigator just with a few clicks to better and faster understand the variants and their spatial relationships. A 3D model of the cerebral arterial system created earlier, fully labeled with names and diameters, is used as a reference. As the vast material about vascular variability is incomplete and not fully documented, our approach synthesizes variants in 3D based on existing knowledge. The variants are created from literature using a dedicated vascular editor and embedded into the reference model. Sixty 3D variants and branching patterns are created including the internal carotid, middle cerebral, anterior cerebral, posterior cerebral, vertebral and basilar arteries, and circle of Willis. Their prevalence rates are given. The atlas is developed to explore the variants individually or embedded into the reference vasculature. Real-time interactive manipulation of variants and reference vasculature (rotate/zoom/pan/view) is provided. This atlas facilitates the investigator to easily get familiarized with the variants and rapidly explore them. It aids in presentation of vascular variants and understanding their spatial relationships either individually or embedded into the surrounding reference cerebrovasculature. It is useful for medical students, educators to prepare teaching materials, and clinicians for scan interpretation. It is easily extensible with additional variant instances, new variants, branching patterns, and supporting textual materials.
脑血管变异的知识在教育、培训、诊断和治疗中至关重要。目前血管的呈现方式，尤其是血管变异的呈现方式还不够充分。我们的目的是构建一个三维（3D）交互式大脑动脉变异图谱，并探索工具，使研究人员只需点击几下，就能够更好、更快地理解变异及其空间关系。我们以前创建的一个完全标注有名称和直径的大脑动脉系统 3D 模型被用作参考。由于大量关于血管变异性的资料不完整且未完全记录，我们的方法基于现有知识在 3D 中综合了变异。使用专门的血管编辑器从文献中创建变体，并将其嵌入到参考模型中。创建了 60 种 3D 变体和分支模式，包括颈内动脉、大脑中动脉、大脑前动脉、大脑后动脉、椎动脉和基底动脉以及 Willis 环。给出了它们的流行率。该图谱旨在单独或嵌入参考血管中探索变体。提供了对变体和参考血管（旋转/缩放/平移/查看）的实时交互式操作。该图谱使研究人员能够轻松熟悉变体并快速探索它们。它有助于呈现血管变异，并理解它们的空间关系，无论是单独呈现还是嵌入周围的参考脑血管中。它对医学生、教育工作者准备教学材料和临床医生进行扫描解释都非常有用。它可以轻松扩展，增加变体实例、新变体、分支模式和支持性文本材料。
