Three-dimensional reconstruction of liver from 2-D tomographic slices

Abstract

Visualization of liver image data in three dimensions (3-D) can reveal new information to aid physicians in volume calculation and surgical planning. Liver image data are first extracted from a series of 2-D cross-sectional abdominal images by using an automated segmentation technique. An interpolation technique is then applied to construct a 3-D liver image data set having the same spatial resolution in all three directions. This 3-D liver image data set is used as an input in surface rendering and volume rendering to generate two sets of 3-D liver displays. We have applied our methods to clinical liver images obtained from cases of a living-donor liver transplant program.