Coupled segmentation in 3D conventional ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound images

An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

• an image processor in communication with an ultrasound probe comprising a two-dimensional array of transducer elements, wherein the image processor is configured to identify a segmentation boundary on an object using three-dimensional ultrasound image data and contrast-enhanced three-dimensional ultrasound image data obtained by the ultrasound probe,
• wherein the image processor is configured to identify the segmentation boundary by minimizing an energy term so that an initial geometric shape is deformed to substantially correspond to a boundary of the object, and
• wherein the energy term comprises a first term representing the three-dimensional ultrasound image data and a second term representing the contrast-enhanced three-dimensional ultrasound image data, wherein the initial geometric shape is the same in both the first and the second term, and wherein the first term or the second term comprises a registering transformation for registering the three-dimensional ultrasound image data and the contrast-enhanced three-dimensional ultrasound image data.