VR display of human brain vessel network extracted from time-of-flight MRI

According to the report from the World Health Organization (WHO), vascular diseases became the most life-threatening diseases by 2015. Time of flight angiography (TOF) is a non-contrast MRI technique to visualize blood vessel in the human vascular system. However, diagnosis of the complex vascular network structures was difficult based on traditional (2D) display method owing to the complexity and variability of vascular network structures. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of displaying three-dimensional (3D) vessel network in virtual reality (VR) environment, using 3D TOF data. Also, the potential value of its clinical application was evaluated. The experiment results, 3D VR videos, showed that the intervention of VR technology is feasible for the 3D image display of cerebrovascular network.