Interactive multidimensional display of magnetic resonance imaging data

Acquisition of multiparametric images in multiple planes often requires unacceptably long scanning times. The ability to display high quality planar cuts in arbitrary planes from single plane (eg, transaxial, coronal, or sagittal plane) images would alleviate the need to acquire images in multiple planes. The need to display data from three-dimensional volume acquisitions also poses a problem to the radiologist. We have developed an interactive multidimensional display tool for magnetic resonance data. The tool presents three orthogonal planes (such as transaxial, coronal, and sagittal) simultaneously and allows the user to interactively roam through the data set. The user can select any arbitrary oblique plane and obtain the corresponding reformations. Additionally the tool allows the correlated display of sets of differently acquired data. This tool offers an effective means for the display of isotropic data and reformated planar data. The ability to interact directly with the data allows increased transference of information to the radiologist and referring physician.