Combined DTI/HARDI visualization

High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) is a diffusion weighted MRI technique that overcomes some of thedecisive limitations of its predecessor, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), in the areas of composite nerve fiber structure. Despite itsadvantages, HARDI raises several issues: complex modeling of the data, non-intuitive and computationally demanding visualization,inability to interactively explore and transform the data, etc. To overcome these drawbacks, we present a novel, multi-field visualizationframework that adopts the benefits of both DTI and HARDI. By applying a classification scheme based on HARDI anisotropy measures,the most suitable model per imaging voxel is automatically chosen. This classification allows simplification of the data in areas withsingle fiber bundle coherence. To accomplish fast and interactive visualization for both HARDI and DTI modalities, we exploit thecapabilities of modern GPUs for glyph rendering and adopt DTI fiber tracking in suitable regions. The resulting framework, allowsuser-friendly data exploration of fused HARDI and DTI data. Many incorporated features like sharpening, normalization, maximaenhancement and different types of color coding of the HARDI glyphs, simplify the data and enhance its features. We provide aqualitative user evaluation that shows the potentials of our visualization tools in several HARDI applications.

@InProceedings { PPAVH10,
  author       = "Prckovska, V. and Peeters, T.H.J.M. and Almsick, M.A. van and Vilanova, Anna and Haar Romeny, B.M. ter",
  title        = "Combined DTI/HARDI visualization",
  booktitle    = "Second Annual Meeting of the Benelux ISMRM Chapter",
  year         = "2010",
  address      = "Netherlands, Utrecht",
  url          = "http://graphics.tudelft.nl/Publications-new/2010/PPAVH10"
}