3D imaging in medicine

The visualization of the human anatomy for diagnostic, therapeutic and educational purposes has long been a challenge for scientists and artists. Recently, biomedical engineering and computer science have begun to offer the potential of producing natural three-dimensional views of the human anatomy of living subjects. For a broad application of such technology, many scientific and engineering problems still have to be solved. This book is the outcome of an Advanced Research Workshop and summarizes the state of the art. It contains 11 invited talks and 16 contributed papers from leading researchers in the field. Three-dimensional image acquisition techniques are covered as well as segmentation of data volumes in 3D. Broad attention is given to the latest developments in visualization algorithms. Object manipulation and interaction techniques and the corresponding hardware systems represent a further important aspect for practical applications, e.g. in surgery and radiotherapy planning. Although the book primarily addresses researchers and engineers, the vividness of the material will also attract potential users in the medical community.