Image Processing for Virtual Histology of the Vestibular End-Organs

摘要

The living anatomy of the vestibular end-organs is still unknown, complex, and studying them is a challenge for researchers in basic science and in clinical medicine. This main reason is the fact that we cannot observe the vestibular end-organs in the living subjects by any modern diagnostic facilities such as CT and MRI. We can make the three-dimensional virtual histology of the vestibular end-organs based on high-resolution computed tomography (HR-CT) of a human temporal bone with the use of the direct volume rendering. The three-dimensional virtual histology is a volume rendering of these structures of interest, which currently includes the bone, soft tissues and air spaces of the temporal bone; the maculae of utricle and saccule, otolith, ampullae, and the ossicles. The three-dimensional volume rendering imaging can be sliced open at any section and the appropriate raw radiological image superimposed on the cleavage plane. The images stack can be resected in any arbitrary plane. This virtual histological technique is a powerful investigating tool for studying the complex anatomy of the vestibular end-organs of living subjects. We can research morphological conditions of the vestibular end-organs of normal functional status and pathological conditions like a retinal camera.