Method and apparatus for determining mid-sagittal plane in magnetic resonance images

An image processing device for volumetrically determining a mid-sagittal plane (MSP) from a plurality of magnetic resonance (MR) images of a brain, comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• receive the plurality of MR images;
• convert the plurality of MR images into a 3D volume image defined in a 3D coordinate space;
• perform semantic segmentation of an anterior commissure (AC) region, a posterior commissure (PC) region, and a third ventricle region in the 3D volume image based on a pre-trained segmentation model to generate a 3D mask image labeled with the AC region, the PC region, and the third ventricle region;
• label an AC point, which corresponds to a center of mass of the AC region, as the AC region and a PC point, which corresponds to a center of mass of the PC region, as the PC region, in the 3D mask image;
• construct a 3D blob of the segmented third ventricle region based on the labeled 3D mask image;
• and
• determine the MSP based on the 3D blob of the third ventricle region, wherein the MSP is defined by:
• a first coordinate indicative of the AC point,
• a second coordinate indicative of the PC point, and
• a third coordinate different from the first coordinate and the second coordinate.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for volumetrically determining a mid-sagittal plane (MSP) from a plurality of magnetic resonance (MR) images of a brain, the instructions causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving the plurality of MR images;
• converting the plurality of MR images into a 3D volume image defined in a 3D coordinate space;
• performing semantic segmentation of an anterior commissure (AC) region, a posterior commissure (PC) region, and a third ventricle region in the 3D volume image based on a pre-trained segmentation model to generate a 3D mask image labeled with the AC region, the PC region, and the third ventricle region;
• labeling an AC point, which corresponds to a center of mass of the AC region, as the AC region and a PC point, which corresponds to a center of mass of the PC region, as the PC region, in the 3D mask image;
• constructing a 3D volumetric image of the segmented third ventricle region based on the labeled 3D mask image;
• and
• determining the MSP based on the 3D volumetric image of the third ventricle region,
• wherein the MSP is defined by:
• a first coordinate indicative of the AC point,
• a second coordinate indicative of the PC point, and
• a third coordinate different from the first coordinate and the second coordinate.