Shape preserving three-dimensional display of myocardial scintigraphic data.

A three-dimensional display has been developed which is specifically suited to the visualization of myocardial single photon emission tomographic (SPET) data. A set of radial maxima voxels, representative of the whole left ventricle uptake and shape is first extracted by cylindrical and spherical sampling of the short axis slices. A three-dimensional representation of these voxels is then obtained, with hues depicting the uptake amount and shades (i.e. intensity and saturation) depicting the shape. This technique is suitable for 201Tl and 99TCm-hexakis-2-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile (99TCm-sestamibi) myocardial images. It is proposed as an aid to interpreting myocardial SPET as it enables the physician to distinguish simultaneously the actual shape, the extent and the severity of perfusion defects on a single frame.