What Is MPR (Multiplanar Reconstruction)?

What Is MPR (Multiplanar Reconstruction)

Multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) takes a stack of parallel images — typically axial CT or MR slices — treats it as a volume, and re-slices that volume in another plane. From one axial acquisition you get coronal and sagittal views, and any oblique plane in between, without scanning the patient again.

It is useful whenever anatomy does not follow the plane of acquisition: a vessel running head-to-foot, a fracture line crossing slices, a structure easier to follow along its own axis than across it.

Two things decide how good the result looks. Slice spacing — a volume reconstructed from thick, widely spaced slices is blurry or stepped in the other planes, because the data simply is not there. And geometry — the slices must be parallel, regularly spaced and share a frame of reference; irregular spacing, non-parallel slices or a tilted gantry distort the reconstruction unless the viewer corrects for it.

A reconstructed plane is a computed image, not an acquired one. Measurements taken on it are only as trustworthy as the geometry underneath.

In Weasis, see MPR Viewer.