A DISTRIBUTED AND INTERACTIVE 3-DIMENSIONAL MEDICAL IMAGE SYSTEM

Three-dimensional (3D) arrays of digital data representing spatial vol umes arise in many scientific applications, such as computed tomograph y (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) created by imaging a serie s of cross sections of human bodies in medical applications. In this a rticle, a software system architecture, called DISCOVER (a Distributed Interactive Scientific COmputing and Visualization EnviRonment), whic h can take advantage of the power of parallel processing, is proposed and implemented for interactive visualization and manipulation of the 3D digital data. The surface-rendering and the volume-rendering algori thms are implemented. The same software program can be executed on sev eral different hardware platforms. We also propose a new rendering alg orithm, called volume-surface rendering, for medical applications. The algorithm enables users to visualize the external and internal struct ures of medical objects simultaneously. The network version of the DIS COVER, as it stands today, is in practical use in the Hospital of Nati onal Cheng Rung University in Taiwan for real clinical applications.