Flux-based anisotropic diffusion applied to enhancement of 3-D angiogram.

We present a new approach to anisotropic diffusion based on a multidirectional diffusion flux. The diffusion flux is decomposed in an orthogonal basis, effectively enabling enhancement of contours as well as diffusion along the contours. To this end, we have selected a three-dimensional basis that depicts the directions of principal curvature and has an interesting interpretation in the context of the vessels. The diffusion function associated to each vector of the basis depends on the first-order derivative of the intensity in this direction, instead of the traditional norm of the smoothed gradient. Accordingly, we present the results of a restoration of computed tomography data of the liver.