Browsing by Author "Vannier, Michael W."

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    Spiral CT of the Temporal Bone
    Wang, Ge; Skinner, Margaret W.; Vannier, Michael W. (2010-11-01)
    Maximum image resolution with commercial spiral CT scanners is inadequate to define clearly the anatomical features and electrode positions within this intricate, 3D space. The objective of this research was to develop theory, algorithms and equipment to increase spiral CT image resolution for temporal bone imaging, especially in cochlear implantation. Summary: Spiral CT with overlapping reconstruction allows better 3D resolution than conventional CT, and is important for temporal bone imaging • Spiral CT image deblurring achieves a 40% resolution gain without significant noise and ringing artifacts • Implant unwrapping measures the array insertion length with 0.3 mm mean accuracy, and facilitates electrode localization • Sub-mm scanning improves high-contrast resolution and suppresses stair-step artifacts. However, 0.5 mm collimation introduced more than doubled image noise
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    Towards Omni-Tomography-Grand Fusion of Multiple Modalities for Simultaneous Interior Tomography
    Wang, Ge; Zhang, Jie; Gao, Hao; Weir, Victor; Yu, Hengyong; Cong, Wenxiang; Xu, Xiaochen; Shen, Haiou; Bennett, James; Furth, Mark; Wang, Yue; Vannier, Michael W. (PLOS, 2012-06-29)
    We recently elevated interior tomography from its origin in computed tomography (CT) to a general tomographic principle, and proved its validity for other tomographic modalities including SPECT, MRI, and others. Here we propose “omni-tomography”, a novel concept for the grand fusion of multiple tomographic modalities for simultaneous data acquisition in a region of interest (ROI). Omni-tomography can be instrumental when physiological processes under investigation are multi-dimensional, multi-scale, multi-temporal and multi-parametric. Both preclinical and clinical studies now depend on in vivo tomography, often requiring separate evaluations by different imaging modalities. Over the past decade, two approaches have been used for multimodality fusion: Software based image registration and hybrid scanners such as PET-CT, PET-MRI, and SPECT-CT among others. While there are intrinsic limitations with both approaches, the main obstacle to the seamless fusion of multiple imaging modalities has been the bulkiness of each individual imager and the conflict of their physical (especially spatial) requirements. To address this challenge, omni-tomography is now unveiled as an emerging direction for biomedical imaging and systems biomedicine.