Disk Harmonic Mapping of Cranial Surfaces for Fracture Visualization.

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Computational Anatomy

Background:

• Skull fractures, particularly in the cranial base and facial regions, pose diagnostic challenges due to complex anatomy and subtle CT findings.
• Current detection methods require extensive review of multiple CT slices, increasing cognitive burden and interpretation time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel visualization flattening technique for skull CT scans.
• To enhance the detection and visualization of skull fractures by transforming curved surfaces into planar representations.

Main Methods:

• A visualization process was developed using disk harmonic mapping to create flattened representations of skull hemispheres from CT scans.
• The technique was applied to nine challenging cases from the CQ500 dataset.

Main Results:

• Flattened views revealed fractures as continuous, high-contrast features, improving conspicuity compared to multiplanar reconstructions.
• The method demonstrated high contrast for fracture features and delineation of emissary veins with minimal distortion and preserved anatomical continuity.

Conclusions:

• Disk harmonic flattening offers a novel approach to skull fracture visualization.
• This technique serves as a valuable adjunct to conventional radiological tools for diagnosing challenging skull fractures.