Inobitec DICOM Viewer

5.4. Curvilinear Reconstruction

5.4.1 Build Surface

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Functionality is available in the Pro edition
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To build the surface the reconstruction will be based on, switch the DICOM Viewer to the curvilinear reconstruction mode (see Section 5.3.1).

Curvilinear reconstruction is a section of tissues by a curvilinear surface whose configuration is set by the trajectory passing through the middle of this surface. This trajectory is called a curve. To build a surface:

Select the plane in which it would be convenient to start building a curve.
Roll the mouse wheel to select the slice where the first point will be located.
Fix the first point on the image by clicking the left mouse button.
If necessary, move to another slice by rolling the mouse wheel.
Move the mouse to select the location of the next point. Fix the point by clicking the left mouse button. The point will appear in the current slice.
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until the last but one point is fixed.
Fix the last point by left-clicking the mouse twice. While building the curve, the current section will be displayed in the bottom right-hand window. The other windows will display the projections of the curve on the corresponding planes (Fig. 5.5).
If necessary, correct the projections of the curve on the two other planes. For details on how to correct, see the next section.

Figure 5.5: Reconstruction by a curve

5.4.2 Curve settings

To adjust the curve, move the cursor to the curve so that it would look like , right-click the mouse and in the dialog that opens, select the Set curve properties... item. You can set up the following parameters:

color;
line width;
show the curve in the curvlinear reconstruction window (bottom right-hand window).

If you check the Set as default box, then the current settings will be used by default.

5.4.3 Actions with a Curve

Actions with a curve can be performed only if the curvilinear reconstruction mode is active.

The following actions are available:

Drag a point. Locate the cursor on the point so that it would look like , and drag the point holding down the left mouse button or the button to which this tool is assigned. Then release the mouse button.
Add a point. Locate the cursor on the curve where the point should be added, so that the cursor would look as follows: . Right-click the mouse and select the Add point item.
Delete a point. Locate the cursor on the point so that it would look like . Right-click the mouse and select the Remove point item.
Continue a curve. Locate the cursor on one of the border points of the curve so that the cursor would look like this: . Right-click the mouse and select the Resume curve item. Then, perform Steps 3 and 4 of the curve building algorithm.
Delete a curve. Locate the cursor on any position on the curve where there is no point, so that the cursor would look like this: . Right-click the mouse and select the Remove curve item.

5.4.4 Position of a Curve, Its Nodes and Surface in Space

By the color of the curve, you can determine which part of the curve is located in front of the current image in space. This part of the curve is brighter than the part behind the image.

In Fig. 5.6, the central part and the third point are a brighter color. This means they are located in front of the current section.

Figure 5.6: Reconstruction by a curve

To make it easier to find a node on the curve on all the projections, locate the cursor on this node so that it looks as follows: . The node will be magnified on all the projections.

To rotate the surface relative to the curve, move the cursor to the bottom right-hand window (Surface by curve) and roll the mouse wheel.