PROJECTION METHODS FOR PRODUCING TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGES FROM THREE-DIMENSIONAL DATA

A method of collecting three-dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) fluid flow images from a volume of a subject and constructing a high contrast low noise two-dimensional image therefrom is accomplished by statistical calculation of voxel values along projection lines cast through a three-dimensional data volume obtained from three-dimensional MR angiography techniques, and converting the data to projection images by summing the weighted differences from the projection average of data for each voxel along a projection ray. The data are then normalized and repeated for all projection rays to obtain a set of projection values which are displayed on a two-dimensional display device.