Silhouette fusion of vascular and anatomical volume data

In this paper we present a novel method for the combined hybrid visualization of the cerebral blood vessels, segmented from a 3D rotational angiography dataset, and datasets containing the soft tissue anatomy, such as CT or MR. This visualization method is targeted at the use in interventional treatment of vascular pathologies and endovascular treatment of the neoplastic tissue. Our method distinguishes itself since it offers the possibility to provide the clinician with a maximum amount of contextual information about the spatial relationship and topology of both datasets, without compromising the ease of use and interpretation. Further it is discussed how an interactive visualization can be implemented on off-the-shelf graphics hardware, and it is indicated which clinical benefits can be achieved.