Tumor Blood Vessels: 3D Tubular Network Analysis

In this session, we will implement a simple ImageJ macro to segment and analyze the blood vessel network of a subcutaneous tumor. The analysis is fully performed in 3D, and possible strategies to extract statistics of the network geometry and interactively visualize the results are also discussed and implemented. Segmenting and extracting the geometry of the blood vessel network inside specific subregions of a tumor is a powerful investigation tool: The density of the vascularization and vessel branching points and the thickness of the vessels are for instance crucial age indicators to understand how the structure developed and possibly necrosed. With the help of a simple ImageJ macro these statistics can be extracted and the network 3D rendered with judicious color/transparency to provide insights on its organization.