Angiograms—Stereo Angiograms, the reality
Stereo angiograms (done with two Xray tubes and two film changers) were all the rage until computed scanning came to the fore in the 1970's. There followed a period of relative neglect, as people played with CT and MR technology (and, really folks, this is a pretty huge sandbox to play in).
More recently, driven by the precipitous drop in the cost of computer memory, newer digital angiography units have incorporated mind-bogglingly large and fast memory stores. Imagine, therefore, an angiography unit which swoops around a 90 to 180 degree arc, obtaining images every 10 degrees or so, and then running them together in a loop. It really is that neat. You get a great feel for the relationship of the vascular anatomy in 3D, and can get all sorts of insights into where aneurysms are pointing, AVMs are draining, etc.
An example of two images obtained from such technology is below. For those of us who are brain-damaged, it is possible to stereo the pictures into a central image. My steps are:
- first, make a third image between the two other ones (cross your eyes, whatever)
- second, focus on this image until it sharpens up
- third, ooh and aah as you see the MCA aneurysms in relation to the vasculature
If you can or can't stereo these images, call: 800 255-5011
