Color-encoded distance visualization of cranial nerve-vessel contacts.

Purpose: Visualization of pathological contact between cranial nerves and vascular structures at the surface of the brainstem is important for diagnosis and treatment of neurovascular compression (NVC) syndromes. We developed a method for improved visualization of this abnormality.

Methods: Distance fields were computed using preoperative MRI scans of individuals with NVC syndromes to support the topological representation of brainstem surface structures with quantitative information.