Medical image processing apparatus and method

A medical image processing apparatus, comprising:

• an acquisition unit configured to acquire plural pieces of medical image data in time phases;
• an extraction unit configured to extract a target site with respect to at least one of the plural pieces of medical image data acquired in accordance with the acquisition unit;
• a setting unit configured to respectively set a first reference point on an outline of the target site extracted by the extraction unit, and set a second reference point on either a target-site side or a periphery side of the target site based on a shape of the outline;
• a movement amount calculation unit configured to calculate, based on the plural pieces of medical image data in time phases, a relative movement amount between the first reference point and the second reference point as a relative movement amount at a position corresponding to the first and second reference points on the outline;
• and
• a display control unit configured to causes a display unit to comparably visualize and display relative movement amounts at positions corresponding to the first and second reference points on the outline, wherein
• in order to calculate relative movement amount at a point A on the outline, the setting unit sets the second reference point at a position separated by a fixed distance along a normal direction toward either the target-site side or the periphery side from a point A on the outline.

A medical image processing method, comprising:

• acquiring a plurality of medical images in time phases;
• extracting a target site from at least one medical image among the plurality of medical images;
• setting a plurality of pairs of a reference point on a target-site side and a reference point on a periphery side of the target site based on a shape of an outline of the target site extracted in the extracting;
• calculating for each of the plurality of pairs, based on the plurality of medical images in time phases, a relative movement amount between reference points of the pair as a relative movement amount at a position corresponding to the pair on the outline;
• and
• causing a display unit to comparably visualize and display relative movement amounts at positions corresponding to the plurality of pairs on the outline, wherein
• in order to calculate relative movement amount at a point A on the outline, setting reference points at positions separated by a fixed distance along a normal direction towards each of the target-site side and the periphery side from a point A on the outline.

A medical image processing method, comprising:

• acquiring plural pieces of medical image data in time phases;
• extracting a target site with respect to at least one the plural pieces of acquired medical image data;
• respectively setting a reference point on a shape of an outline of the extracted target site, and setting a plurality of pairs of a reference point on either a target-site side or a periphery side of the target site;
• calculating for each of the plurality of pairs, based on the plurality of medical images in time phases, a relative movement amount between reference points of the pair as a relative movement amount at a position corresponding to the pair on the outline;
• and
• causing a display unit to comparably visualize and display relative movement amounts at positions corresponding to the plurality of pairs on the outline, wherein
• in order to calculate relative movement amount at a point A on the outline, setting the second reference point at a position separated by a fixed distance along a normal direction toward either the target-site side or the periphery side from a point A on the outline.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to function as:

• an acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of medical images in time phases;
• an extraction unit configured to extract a target site from at least one medical image among the plurality of medical images;
• a setting unit configured to set a plurality of pairs of a reference point on a target-site side and a reference point on periphery side of the target site based on a shape of an outline of the target site extracted by the extraction unit;
• a calculation unit configured to calculate for each of the plurality of pairs, based on the plurality of medical images in time phases, a relative movement amount between reference points of the pair as a relative movement amount at a position corresponding to the pair on the outline;
• and
• a display control unit configured to causes a display unit to comparably visualize and display relative movement amounts at positions corresponding to the plurality of pairs on the outline, wherein
• in order to calculate relative movement amount at a point A on the outline, the setting unit sets reference points at positions separated by a fixed distance along a normal direction towards each of the target-site side and the periphery side from a point A on the outline.

A medical image processing apparatus comprising:

• an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of medical images captured at different temporal points and at different respiratory conditions of a patient;
• an extraction unit configured to extract a lung field region from at least one medical image among the plurality of medical images;
• an acquisition unit configured to acquire a slippage of pleura by comparing a relative movement amount between a movement amount of the lung field region and a movement amount of an outside region of the lung field region;
• and
• a display processing unit configured to visualize the slippage of pleura on at least one medical image among the plurality of medical images, wherein the display control unit is also configured to cause a display unit to comparably visualize and display relative slippage amounts of pleura at positions corresponding to the lung field region and the region outside of the lung field region, wherein
• the display control unit is configured to convert the relative movement amounts at positions corresponding to a plurality of pairs on the outline to corresponding grayscale values or color scale values and cause the display unit to comparably visualize and display the relative movement amounts at positions corresponding to the plurality of pairs on the outline with the grayscale values or color scale values.