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AngioVis (Angiographic Visualization) is a collaborative research effort involving the Stanford University School of Medicine (Department of Radiology), the Medical University of Vienna (Department of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology), the  Austrian Academy of Sciences (Commission for Scientific Visualization), and the Vienna University of Technology
(Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms).

The AngioVis project deals with post-processing and visualization of large CTA datasets of the peripheral extremities. The aim of this project is to develop a diagnosis tool for detection and classification of arterial diseases in routine clinical use. The goals cover: (1) Developing highly reliable visualization methods. (2) Speeding up post-processing by introducing automatic and semi-automatic tools. (3) Optimising the clinical workflow. 

More than 600 clinical cases have been processed using the AngioVis setup. The generation of MIPs, and various forms of Curved Planar Reformations has been used clinically at the Department of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria, using a 16-channel Multislice CT scanner. Recently, we have been using a 64-slice scanner at Medical University of Vienna, Austria and at Stanford University,  USA.

The axial CT source images are transferred to the AngioVis workstation, where post-processing steps are performed by experienced CT technologists. The resulting images are sent to PACS (in DICOM format), and are then reviewed by the radiologist and vascular surgeons on any PACS viewing station.

Routine readout usually begins with looking at the MIP images, as they give an "angiography-like" overview. In the presence of vessel calcifications or endoluminal stents, the assessment of the flow channel requires the analysis of cross-sectional images. The most comprehensive tool to read cross sections is to use multi-path curved planar reformations. In many instances, these images provide the necessary clinical information. If necessary, the user can also read single-path CPRs through a vessel of interest. As all images are read on PACS workstations, all images can be magnified (zoom), and the viewing window settings can be altered interactively. This is crucial in the presence of calcifications/stents because too narrow window settings may cause –pseudo-stenosis due to the blooming artifact.

For more information, including links to papers, images and videos, please visit [http://www.angiovis.org/ http://www.angiovis.org/] or [http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/vis/angiovis/ http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/vis/angiovis/].