Eindhoven University of Technology.
IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2010 Nov-Dec;16(6):1339-47. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2010.153.
Insight into the dynamics of blood-flow considerably improves the understanding of the complex cardiovascular system and its pathologies. Advances in MRI technology enable acquisition of 4D blood-flow data, providing quantitative blood-flow velocities over time. The currently typical slice-by-slice analysis requires a full mental reconstruction of the unsteady blood-flow field, which is a tedious and highly challenging task, even for skilled physicians. We endeavor to alleviate this task by means of comprehensive visualization and interaction techniques. In this paper we present a framework for pre-clinical cardiovascular research, providing tools to both interactively explore the 4D blood-flow data and depict the essential blood-flow characteristics. The framework encompasses a variety of visualization styles, comprising illustrative techniques as well as improved methods from the established field of flow visualization. Each of the incorporated styles, including exploded planar reformats, flow-direction highlights, and arrow-trails, locally captures the blood-flow dynamics and may be initiated by an interactively probed vessel cross-section. Additionally, we present the results of an evaluation with domain experts, measuring the value of each of the visualization styles and related rendering parameters.
深入了解血流动力学可以极大地提高对复杂心血管系统及其病理学的认识。MRI 技术的进步使得能够获取 4D 血流数据，从而提供随时间变化的定量血流速度。目前典型的逐层分析需要对不稳定血流场进行完整的心理重建，这是一项繁琐且极具挑战性的任务，即使对于熟练的医生也是如此。我们努力通过全面的可视化和交互技术来减轻这项任务。在本文中，我们提出了一个用于临床前心血管研究的框架，提供了工具来交互式地探索 4D 血流数据并描绘基本的血流特征。该框架包含各种可视化样式，包括说明性技术以及来自既定流可视化领域的改进方法。所包含的每种样式，包括展开的平面重建、流向突出显示和箭头轨迹，都可以局部捕捉血流动力学，并可以通过交互式探测的血管横截面来启动。此外，我们还展示了与领域专家进行的评估结果，衡量了每种可视化样式和相关渲染参数的价值。
