The spine in 3D. Computed tomographic reformation from 2D axial sections.

A new program (3D83, General Electric) was used to reformat three-dimensional (3D) images from two-dimensional (2D) computed tomographic axial scans in 18 patients who had routine scans of the spine. The 3D spine images were extremely true to life and could be rotated around all three principle axes (constituting a movie), so that an illusion of head-motion parallax was created. The benefit of 3D reformation with this program is primarily for preoperative planning. It appears that 3D can also effectively determine the patency of foraminal stenosis by reformatting in hemisections. Currently this program is subject to several drawbacks that require user interaction and long reconstruction time. With further improvement, 3D reformation will find increasing clinical applicability.