3-D Flow Visualization from Color Doppler Images
Masataka Imura, Tomohiro Kuroda, Osamu Oshiro, Kunihiro Chihara · Journal of the Visualization Society of Japan · 2000
The color Doppler method, which can measure velocity of a flow in realtime using the Doppler effect of ultrasound, is suitable for observation of a blood flow and has contributed to diagnosis of circulatory illness. However, the result of measurement is represented as a 2-D image, which is not useful for understanding a state of a complex flow. This paper presents 3-D visualization methods of a blood flow from color Doppler images. For diagnosis and investigation, the visualization of a blood flow must fulfill the following features : (1) objectivity (2) interactivity and (3) multi-aspect. The proposed system meets the above requirements by providing realtime visualization methods and intuitive interfaces. Moreover, an experiment with a phantom channel shows that the proposed system enables observers to recognize a state of an entire flow, such as occurence of turbulence and an area of regurgitant jets.