In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Mahmut Unan

will defend his dissertation proposal

3D Reconstruction of the Tubular Structures Using MRI Projection Images

Abstract

After imaging information become available in digital form, acquiring volumetric data technics are evolved. 3D reconstruction is mostly performed by using multi-slice stack images. This study presents a simple magnetic resonance technique for imaging of tubular structures, such as blood vessels and catheters, and their 3D reconstruction. This projection imaging was evaluated on a phantom filled with T1-shortening, Gd-based contrast agent embedded into a lipid matrix. The projected structures were segmented out on each projections, back-projected to generate the segmented tubular object and mesh-rendered in 3D. The accuracy of this approach investigated by comparing the centerline and the mesh-rendered tubular structure generated from projections with this extracted from a multislice set of images of the same volume. The average error of the reconstruction is less than 1 pixel. Also, a Matlab simulation is created to analyze the reconstruction process, and it is tested with different shapes of the structures and different numbers of the projections. With further optimization and reduction of acquisition time, this method can be used for 3D fast imaging of interventional tools or segments of blood vessels with applications in interventional MRI.

Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Time: 11:00 AM
Place: PGH 362
Advisor: Dr. Nikolaos V. Tsekos

Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.