Medical image processing apparatus and medical image processing method

An information processing method comprising:

• acquiring a first medical image of a target object and a second medical image of the target object captured at different time phases from each other;
• acquiring first contour information about a first contour being a boundary between the target object and a region outside the target object in the first medical image and second contour information about a second contour being a boundary between the target object and a region outside the target object in the second medical image;
• generating first processed information in which a first contour region is blurred by performing processing of decreasing a gradient of pixel value between pixels in the first contour region in the first medical image based on the first contour information and second processed information in which a second contour region is blurred by performing processing of decreasing a gradient of pixel value between pixels in the second contour region in the second medical image based on the second contour information, wherein the first contour region is a region that includes the first contour and pixels adjacent to the first contour, and the second contour region is a region that includes the second contour and pixels adjacent to the second contour;
• and
• acquiring deformation information about the target object between the first medical image and the second medical image based on the first processed information and the second processed information.

An information processing apparatus comprising:

• at least one memory storing executable instructions;
• and
• at least one processor that, upon execution of the stored instructions, is configured to operate as:
• a first acquisition unit configured to acquire a first medical image of a target object and a second medical image of the target object captured at different time phases from each other;
• a second acquisition unit configured to acquire first contour information about a first contour being a boundary between the target object and a region outside the target object in the first medical image and second contour information about a second contour being a boundary between the target object and a region outside the target object in the second medical image;
• a generation unit configured to generate first processed information in which an inside region of the target object is enhanced by blurring the first contour based on the first contour information or the second contour information and second processed information in which the inside region of the target object is enhanced by blurring the second contour based on the first contour information or the second contour information;
• a third acquisition unit configured to
• acquire first deformation information about a deformation in the target object between the first medical image and the second medical image based on first registration processing that registers the target object in the acquired first and second medical images,
• acquire second deformation information based on a second registration processing that uses the first deformation information to register the target object in the first processed information and the second processed information, and
• acquire third deformation information using the acquired second deformation information from the first processed information and second processed information and the acquired first and second medical images
• a dynamic information calculation unit configured to calculate dynamic information representative of movement of the target object between the acquired first medical image and the acquired second medical image using the third deformation information.