Reconstruction of an arbitrary cross section from the serial drawings of a stereotaxic brain atlas.

A method is described for the reconstruction of arbitrary cross section from the serial line drawings of a stereotaxic brain atlas. Mathematically, the problem reduces to the intersection of a plane with a line pattern lying in another plane. However, the calculation yields a cloud of points, often confusing and unusable for the surgeon. Because it is impossible to link correctly all the calculated points in all cases [1,2], we propose a method where the number of points is drastically reduced: only regions of interest are depicted, i.e., the area where the electrode point is situated and the neighbouring regions. Instead of points, symbols are displayed, each symbol representing a different region. The efficiency of the method is shown using an atlas simulation of four intersecting spheres in the three dimensional space, Although the procedure is useful for all stereotaxic brain atlasses, a practical example is given where the poor quality of the reconstructed images does not allow good interpretation.