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Conventional arteriography and intraarterial digital subtraction arteriography (IADSA) were compared in 36 patients with primary bone or soft-tissue tumors of the extremities. The sensitivity of IADSA was at least equal to conventional arteriography for demonstrating normal or abnormal major arteries and feeding arteries, equal to or superior for depicting tumor stains or draining veins, but slightly inferior for revealing minute tumor vessels. An increase of the matrix size from 256 X 256 to 512 X 512 improved these sensitivities. IADSA with 15% diatrizoate contrast material eliminated the contrast material-induced pain in all patients. With a computer-controlled iris setting, an average of 5 minutes of procedure time and 1.7 R of radiation (0.44 mC kg) per examination could be saved. IADSA reduced the cost of an examination by an average of $67. The results indicate that IADSA was diagnostic in all instances and can replace conventional arteriography for the evaluation of extremity tumors.

The computed tomographic (CT) findings of two popliteal cysts are presented, and the correlated anatomico-pathologic changes are discussed. The characteristic findings include thin, well-defined cyst wall, fluid density contents, central septum or septi, and medial popliteal location with mediocaudal extension. These findings, however, may vary due to herniation or rupture of the synovial membrane, gelatinous cyst contents, or metaplastic change of the cyst wall. Differential diagnoses include liposarcoma, popliteal aneurysm or hematoma, thrombophlebitis, xanthoma, fibrosarcoma, or other soft tissue tumors.

The preoperative diagnosis of abdominal cerebrospinal fluid pseudocyst, in association with ventriculoperitoneal shunts, was made in two patients. Computed tomography and/or ultrasound and radiologicol procedures of choice to demonstrate and localize these cysts.

CT examination of 71 patients with cerebral hemiatrophy revealed dilatation of the ventricle and low density of the cortex of the involved side in all cases. Thickening of the calvarium and a shift of the midline were found in about half of the patients.

The continuing increase in diagnostic examinations using digitally formatted image instrumentation imposes new requirements on the acquisition, display, transmission, recording, and archiving of all diagnostic data. The fabrication decisions and initial clinical testing of a prototype on-line, decentralized digital image management system are described. With this system, raw digital data can be viewed by multiple users as soon as it is acquired by an acquisition node and transmitted to a display node. Radiologists and clinicians have given this system a favorable reception.

Digital medical imaging modalities construct and display images as cross-sections of anatomy. The technologies of these digital imaging systems are moving towards thinner cross-section thicknesses, higher spatial resolutions, and larger dynamic ranges. These imaging modalities provide cross-sectional displays in which there is no superimosing of organs. This provides relatively precise two-dimensional geometric information. In regarding the general three-dimensional (3-D) space relationships among a number of anatomic structures is difficult to acquire from a large number of thin serial sections. Clinicians are required to visualize such information by mentally stacking these serial sections to obtain the complete structure. A number of 3-D surface reconstruction algorithms have been developed for displaying 3-D anatomic structures on raster graphic displays. This paper will present a comparison among these reconstruction algorithms for: (1) computation time; (2) algorithm complexity; (3) computer storage requirements; and (4) clinical efficacy. The authors will report on a three-year study of the clinical utilization of 3-D display algorithms using raster graphic display systems.© (1983) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

We present a prospectus on the use of computer graphics for the three-dimensional reconstruction and visualization of brain lesions from computed tomographic head examinations, including an algorithm that utilizes surface contour information to reconstruct and display three-dimensional anatomical sites. We provide examples of the use of this algorithm. We offer an algorithm for estimation of the volume and surface area of anatomical sites. The advantages and disadvantages for the clinical use of these algorithms are discussed.