Three Dimensional Modeling

3D-BIOMEDICAL MODELING: MERGING IMAGE

PROCESSING AND COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN
J. A. de Guise * and Y. Martel
Institute of Biomedical Engineering
Ecole Poly technique and Universite de Montreal
Montreal, Canada
ABSTRACT
We describe a computerized system for three-dimensio
nal (3D) reconstruction, manipulation, geometrical anal
ysis, and post-processing of biomedical models. This sys
tem, based on a IRIS 3020 graphics workstation from
Silicon Graphics, can perform 1) pre-processing of 3D
biomedical data coming from series of serial slices, 2) 3D
generation and coding of the underlying structures, and 3)
display, interactive object manipulation and geometrical
analysis.
INTRODUCTION AND METHODS
The integration of a large quantity of information is
needed for high precision and high resolution modeling
of the biomechanics of complex articulations. In model
ing the vertebral spine, for example, a primary require
ment is a knowledge of the precise geometry of the struc
tures involved and their spatial relationships. Since the
required information is mostly structural and visual, an
emerging and useful way to assemble the various elements
in a computerized form involves digital image processing
and computer graphics technologies. Existing algorithms
were mostly designed for the display of data and oriented
towards aesthetic representation of objects suraces [1].
When the focus is 011 the creation of realistic high reso
lution models, however, both refned representation and
geometric correctness are required, together with the pos
sibility of creating smface models or full geometric volume
models.
This paper describes a computerized system, the 3D
BIOMODELER, for data pre-processing, generation and
coding, visualization, and manipulation of structural bi
ological data. The system can accommodate a variety of
imaging sources such as X-ray and MR tomography, optic
and electron microscopy, and digitized serial photographs.
The required source data format is fexible so that contour
lines, binary images or grey level images are appropriate.
Any grey-level or binary image can be visualized, edited
or labelled using a special interactive program. By means
of a compression Illode, up to 30 slices can be visualized
on the graphic screen and edited simultaneously. This fea-
ture allows the user to correct or to fne-tune the images
which may have been degraded by the pre-processing or
acquisition procedures. For example, computer assisted
segmentation can be done to isolate and correct a num
ber of slices defning a specifc structure. This is done
by adding or deleting pixels from the binary image using
a mouse pointer and a region-of-interest zooming facility.
This operation is facilitated by superimposing th original
grey level image and the binary segmented image using
a transparency mode. Special markers can be added or
deleted in the same manner. Each connex region in the
scene mn be labelled automatically by assigning to it a
specifc integer value. Such labels are used to diferentiate
regions which may belong to diferent objects in the scene.
A completely automatic 3D reconstruction procedure
can be applied to a fully labelled object of I,he scene. This
procedure automatically solves the complex branching or
merging problems at the interface between adjacent slices.
It may be summarized as follow: each slice (or labeled
image) is superimposed on the next one and polyhedron
elements (octahedron, hexahedron, pntahedron, tetrahe
dron, etc.) are constructed locally by joining pixels of
level (or slice) n to corresponding pixels on adj acr.n t level
n + 1. To simplify the description we consider the partic
ular case of a cubic organization of pixels and refer to the
procedure as the connecting cube algorithm.
The entire 3D object matrix is scanned with a connect
ing cube, two planes at the time in order to create locally
surface or volume elements corresponding to connecting
states of the CIl be. A connecting state is defned by the
positions of the cube vertices relative to the boundaries
of the object. The cube is used to examine systematically
the local distribution of object b011ndaries over two ad
joining planes. For that purpose, we defne a "in-node'
as a cube vertex which is located inside the object or on
its border, and an "out-node" as a cnbe vertex which is
lomted outside the object. For the eight vertices of the
cube there are 28 (256) diferent connecting states, cor
responding to all possible combinations of in-nodes and
out-nodes. A special adjustment mode can also be ap
plied to sub-sample the original data in order to decrease
the number of generated polygons, without afecting ad-
0426--IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE & BIOLGY SOCIETY 10TH ANNAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
CH2566-8j88jOOOO--0426 $1.00 0 1988 IEEE
versely the representation of the object. Both the shell of
the object or the full geometric mesh model can be built
using the connecting cube.
Interactive geometrical analysis can be performed on
the created model: it can be displayed and manipulated
in real-time using a wireframe representation. Rotation
around any axis, translation and scaling can be done, and
a fast Gouraud shaded display can be used to create re
alistic images. Geometrica measurements can be done
on the model: relative distances, surfaces, volumes and
angles can be evaluated.
APPLICATION OF THE METHOD
We used this computerized system to reconstruct a
human vertebral spine. An isolated human specimen was
placed in the gantry of a Picker 1200 SX CT scanner and
1mm slices were taken at Imm intervals. Next, digital 512
x 512 x 12-bit images were recorded on magnetic tape and
read back on the IRIS workstation for processing.
First, each 2D image was transformed into a binary
format using a multi-level thresholding method. This pro
cedure served to separate the bone structure from the re
mander of the image and asigned a specific integer value
to each pixel, according to the pixel intensity level and a
specifed threshold. Each image was then reviewed using
the slice edition module, allowing interactive correction of
the segmentation result. Next, the labelling process was
performed to identify each vertebra specifcally. Finally,
each labelled vertebra was reconstructed automatically us
ing the connecting cube algorithm.
When the full information available was used in the
reconstruction, each vertebra consisted of around 150,000
polygons and 70,000 nodes. However, when the verte
brae were reconstructed using the sub-sampling adjust
ment mode, only 15,000 polygons and 7,000 nodes were
created. Figure 1 is a photograph of the IRIS screen show
ing parts of the reconstructed vertebral spine using this
special mode.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The main features of the 3D-BIOMODELER are the
availability of modular built-in functions and the fexibil
ity of adding dedicated or general purpose functions. Such
functions can range from specifc image pre-processing
algorithms (sof tissue segmentation, edge and contrast
enhancement, contour detection) to post-processing func
tions allowing visualization of modeling analysis results.
The system was developed on an IRIS 3020 Graphics work
station with UNIX operating system. All software mod
ules were written as separate units in C language. Ex
cept for some graphics functions used in the pre-processing
module and in the geometric aalysis module, all modules,
including the 3D reconstruction, can be executed on any
mainframe or personal micro-computer. At the present
time, PCI AT(DOS) and SUN(UIX) versions are avail
able. For portability and compatibility requirements, ge
ometrical models are saved on fle using the MOVIE.IYU
[2] file structure.
a
b
Figure 1: Display of reconstructed vertebrae. Cutting
planes allow viRnali7ation of the medullar channel (b).
High resolution reconstruction algorithms may gener
ate a tremendous quantity of elements (over 500,000 in
some cases) [1,3]. Our polygon adjustement mode allows
a drastic reduction of the number (10:1 ratio) of created
polygons withont afecting too much the representation
and the resolution of the object. The above example illus
trates the complementary combination of medical imaging
and graphics techniques to generate biomedical modeling
applications that could be rendered inefective if singularly
addressed by either discipline.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is supported in part by the National Sci
ences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
REFERENCES
[1] C. Barillot et aI., "Computer Graphics in Medicine: a Survey",
in CRC Crit. Rev. in Bio. Eng., Vol. 15, pp. 269-308, 1988.
[2J H. Christiansen, "MOVIE.BYU, a general purpose computer
graphics system", Ver. 6, Jan. 1987 Edi
[3J S. M. Goldwasser, R.A. Reynolds et aI., "Physician's Worksta
tion with Real-Time Performance", IEEE Camp. Graph. and
Appl., Vol. 5, pp. 44-57, 1985.
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IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY SOCIETY 10TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE--0427