Augmented active surface model for the recovery of small structures in CT.

This paper devises an augmented active surface model for the recovery of small structures in a low resolution and high noise setting, where the role of regularization is especially important. The emphasis here is on evaluating performance using real clinical computed tomography (CT) data with comparisons made to an objective ground truth acquired using micro-CT. In this paper, we show that the application of conventional active contour methods to small objects leads to non-optimal results because of the inherent properties of the energy terms and their interactions with one another. We show that the blind use of a gradient magnitude based energy performs poorly at these object scales and that the point spread function (PSF) is a critical factor that needs to be accounted for. We propose a new model that augments the external energy with prior knowledge by incorporating the PSF and the assumption of reasonably constant underlying CT numbers.

Three-dimensional vibration-induced vestibulo-ocular reflex identifies vertical semicircular canal dehiscence.

Vertical semicircular canal dehiscence (VSCD) due to superior canal dehiscence (SCD) or posterior canal dehiscence (PCD) of the temporal bone causes vestibular and cochlear hypersensitivity to sound. This study aimed to characterize the vibration-induced vestibulo-ocular reflex (ViVOR) in VSCD. ViVORs in one PCD and 17 SCD patients, confirmed by CT imaging reformatted in semicircular canal planes, were measured with dual-search coils as binocular three-dimensional eye rotations induced by skull vibrations from a bone oscillator (B71-10 ohms) at 7 ms, 500 Hz, 135-dB peak-force level (re: 1 µN). The ViVOR eye rotation axes were computed by vector analysis and referenced to known semicircular canal planes. Onset latency of the ViVOR was 11 ms. ViVOR from VSCD was up to nine times greater than normal. The ViVOR's torsional rotation was always contraversive-torsional (the eye's upper pole rotated away from the stimulated ear), i.e. its direction was clockwise from a left and counterclockwise from a right VSCD, thereby lateralizing the side of the VSCD. The ViVORs vertical component distinguishes PCD from SCD, being downwards in PCD and upwards in SCD. In unilateral VSCD, the ViVOR eye rotation axis aligned closest to the dehiscent vertical semicircular canal axis from either ipsilateral or contralateral mastoid vibrations. However, in bilateral VSCDs, the ViVOR eye rotation axis lateralized to the ipsilateral dehiscent vertical semicircular canal axis. ViVOR was evoked in ossicular chain dysfunction, even when air-conducted click vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) was absent or markedly reduced. Hence, ViVOR could be a useful measurement to identify unilateral or bilateral VSCD even in the presence of ossicular chain dysfunction.