MDCT technology provides rapid coverage of large anatomic regions, permitting thin slices to be acquired routinely or reconstructed retrospectively. The resultant thin voxels can then be used to generate multiplanar displays of anatomy. In many cases, abdominal disease is better shown in planes other than the axial plane used for native image acquisition. Planar sagittal, coronal, or oblique views can be easily reconstructed at the scanner console to supplement the acquisition plane images. These views may be particularly beneficial in the presence of suspicion of disease oriented in a craniocaudal direction, such as diaphragmatic hernias. However, a convoluted loop of intestine or a tortuous vessel typically travels a path that meanders off the three standard anatomic planes and is rarely restricted to a single plane.
Curved planar reformations are single images obtained by tracing a curved path through the imaging volume along the course of a particular anatomic structure of interest. The volumetric data set is sculpted by a path-tracing tool into a 2D image representing the undulating plane described by the structure of interest. The exact algorithm used to create the image can vary, but in general, once a path has been traced, data points for the image are generated using linear interpolation in three dimensions.