A Case Study in Pharmacologic Colon Imaging Using Principal Curves in Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography.

In this manuscript we are concerned with functional imaging of the colon to assess the kinetics of microbicide lubricants. The overarching goal is to understand the distribution of the lubricants in the colon. Such information is crucial for understanding the potential impact of the microbicide on HIV viral transmission. The experiment was conducted by imaging a radiolabeled lubricant distributed in the subject's colon. The tracer imaging was conducted via single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), a non-invasive, in-vivo functional imaging technique. We develop a novel principal curve algorithm to construct a three dimensional curve through the colon images. The developed algorithm is tested and debugged on several difficult two-dimensional images of familiar curves where the original principal curve algorithm does not apply. The final curve fit to the colon data is compared with experimental sigmoidoscope collection.