Medical Visualization for Orthopedic Applications

Abstract This dissertation discusses visualization techniques of a rticular cartilage for both quantitative and qualitative assessment. Articular c artilage is a very thin structure covering the endings of human bones. Thus, even slight changes in its thickness and inner structure may indicate an occurrence or progress of degeneration. The early detection of these factors is crucial for dia gnosis and treatment of cartilage degeneration. Research to find treatments to stop o r even reverse these degenerative changes is well in progress. Magnetic resonance imaging is currently the best and most used non-invasive technique for acquisition of soft tissue structures like ar ticular cartilage. In this work we use two types of data: a high-resolution anatomical scan of the cartilage and a T2 map, which is computed from a set of sequences with varying parameters. While the thickness of the data can be precisely assessed from the anatomical scan,