Medical image processing apparatus

A medical image processing apparatus comprising:

• a hardware processor which processes an X-ray image including a plurality of structures, the X-ray image being obtained by an X-ray photographing apparatus;
• and
• a memory which stores, as predetermined information, a previous shape model image prepared independently of the X-ray image, the previous shape model image including a set of contours of a specific structure based on an anatomical position;
• wherein the hardware processor:
• locates the previous shape model image in the X-ray image by superimposing the previous shape model image at a position on the X-ray image;
• calculates, for the X-ray image, image feature amounts at positions which overlap the contours in the located previous shape model image;
• and
• extracts contours of the specific structure by detecting candidate points of the specific structure based on the contours in the previous shape model image and the image feature amounts,
• wherein the previous shape model image includes a contour model formed of a curve, and each pixel located on the curve has vector information indicating an inclination of a contour at a position of the pixel.