Image Display and Analysis Protocol

First, please determine what you want to visualize and how much time you have.

Quick Visualization Approach

The quickest way to view the cerebral arteries is to load in a window containing the arteries you wish to investigate. For instance, if you want to look at the right hemisphere, left hemisphere, basilar artery, Circle of Willis subregion, or any particular subregion of the brain; this can be accomplished in approximately five to ten minutes per subregion. We reccomend using this approach if time is an important consideration, or if you want a global view of the vessel arrangement. The primary downfall of this approach is that rotation of the projection usually cause the bone to eventually obstruct viewing of the vessels.

Bone Dimmed Approach

Dimming the bone can be accomplished through a segmentation process in approximately 15 to 30 minutes. The advantage of dimming the bone is one can rotate the vessel projection through any angle without the bone interfering with visualization. Furthermore, because the bone is not completely segmented away, you can use the bone as an anatomical landmark to orient yourself.

Specific Vessel Segmentation Approach

Specific vessel segmentation is reccomended for vessels where an aneurysm has been found. By specifically segmenting the vessel you will be able to investigate the neck of the aneurysm, its orientation in relation to the parent vessel, and whether there is another artery originating from the aneurysm. All these factors are important factors in the decisions made regarding surgery on the aneurysm. Although this approach is the most time consuming, generally taking 30 to 45 minutes per vessel, it also yield the clearest visualization of the aneurysms anatomy. Example of specific segmentation of the right internal carotid artery showing two aneurysms and the basilar artery showing an aneurysm.

Last modified: Tue Jun 1 13:51:00 CDT