This research proposes to develop new techniques to produce three dimensional images of internal organs such as the brain. Before surgery, the surgeon can actually use the three dimensional view to inspect potential damage by using the computer to "cut away" the three dimensional picture. Three dimensional information of the brain and skull are vital information to the surgeon to permit the assessment of the most non-damaging surgical approach in, say, removing a tumor. The three dimensional image locates the precise position of the tumor as well as its shape. It is now feasible to use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to form maps of the internal organs with a clarity previously only achieved with X-rays; NMR lowers the radiation risk to the patient. However, NMR can be used to determine the physiological well being of the tissue as well as its shape. Thus, this proposed research has far reaching implications and a great many medical applications. This research can also be logically extended to provide valuable information for those projects which intend to construct "artificial eyes" for robots and the blind. Thus, there it is expected that this research will have considerable technological fall-out to many other areas of research.
