Three-dimensional display of intracranial soft-tissue structures.

Efficient three-dimensional surface reconstructions of intracranial bony, soft-tissue, and cerebrospinal fluid-filled structures have been created from serial narrowly collimated transaxial computed tomographic (CT) scans. These three-dimensional surface images are useful in visualizing the relations among intracranial details. Views may be produced in frontal, rear, 45 degrees oblique (anterior and posterior), top and bottom, and both lateral projections. This method has been applied to image the surface of intracranial structures by reformatting the images with elimination of the overlying bone. This method was realized as a computer program that operates on a conventional unmodified CT scanner without operator intervention.