Voxel tube algorithm for object oriented virtual navigation in medical volumes

This paper is concerned with the virtual navigation in medical volumes. The core component of this architecture is the voxel chain that operates directly on voxels. A data structure, voxel navigation chain (VNC) tree, represents the navigation path in a volume of features. The feature or object is represented as a voxel tube chain (VTC) that connects many 2D voxel contour chains (VCC). Collectively the hierarchy of the three chains helps efficient navigation in volume data sets. We show the overall architecture of the system and preliminary results from the system. Space requirements and computational complexity for the voxel chain architecture are described for particular implementations.