Virtual dissection of aortic lesions from MRI

In this article we demonstrate the use of an automated technique to visualize lesions in the abdominal aorta, gathered from MRI imagery, and displayed as a stained pathology specimen. We have developed this technique in response to the suggestion from clinical colleagues that such a representation of the data is more understandable to the pathologist than presentation of axial MRI slices, even if the atheroma is of high contrast and very thick. This virtual dissection relies on an initial manual segmentation of the inner and outer walls of the vessel, which I achieved using a commercial cardiac analysis package. The algorithm consists of a) decoding the file that describes the contours; b) generating a center for each slice; c) determining the appropriate posterior position on all slices; d) interpolating along the (approximately circular) lumen and through all slices; e) false color presentation of the wall thickness as a pathological stain.