Abstract The practice of medicine and major segments of the
biological sciences have always relied on visualizations of the relationship
of anatomic structure to biological function. Traditionally, these
visualizations have either been direct, via vivisection and post-mortem
examination, or have required extensive mental reconstruction, as in examination
of serial sections. The revolutionary capabilities of new 3D and
4D imaging modalities, as well as new 3D scanning microscope technologies,
underscore the vital importance of spatial visualization to these sciences.
Critically important capabilities required to fully exploit the usefulness
of these multi-modality, multi-dimensional image data sets are rapid, accurate
3D segmentation, robust 3D registration and interactive 3D visualization.
We have been using the high resolution, multi-modality Visible Human Data
Sets, both male and female, to develop, test and validate algorithms and
procedures to provide such capabilities. With such capabilities in
hand, we have extended them to actual patient data in a variety of clinical
applications.
