3-D surface reconstruction of multiple sclerosis lesions using spherical harmonics

✍ Scribed by D. Goldberg-Zimring; H. Azhari; S. Miron; A. Achiron

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 425 KB
• Volume: 46
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0740-3194
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.1254

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A new approach to approximate the 3‐D shape of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions and to calculate their volumes is presented. The suggested method utilizes sets of MS lesion contours taken from segmented MR images and approximates their 3‐D surfaces by spherical harmonics. This method was applied to obtain 3‐D reconstructions of in vivo and simulated MS lesions and to calculate their volumes. The results show good geometrical approximations of the original MS lesions' 3‐D shapes and good consistency in volume estimation independent of the size of the lesions. The average volume estimation error was smaller than the commonly used technique of slice stacking (15.5 ± 13.4% and 13.1 ± 10.1% vs. 25.0 ± 17.0%). The method presented here offers a tool for analyzing the geometrical characteristics of MS lesions in 3‐D as well as their volumes. The geometrical information may potentially serve as an additional clinical index for monitoring the disease. Magn Reson Med 46:756–766, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.