A method for automatically estimating a mammary gland volume based on a mammary gland magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image, comprising the following steps:
- step 1:
- reading three-dimensional image data of a chest MRI image in digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) format;
- step 2:
- cutting the three-dimensional chest MRI image according to prior knowledge to extract a left chest region and a right chest region, and performing Gaussian blur processing on a three-dimensional image of a single breast;
- step 3:
- removing a breast skin region in the three-dimensional image of the breast by means of an image processing algorithm;
- wherein step 3 comprises step 3.1 to step 3.4:
- step 3.1:
- marking points on an edge of breast skin by means of a search algorithm;
- step 3.2:
- calculating partial derivatives of each three-dimensional image of left and right breasts in an X-axis direction, a Y-axis direction, and a Z-axis direction by means of a difference operator, and obtaining a gradient magnitude and direction of a position of each voxel in the three-dimensional image;
- step 3.3:
- making a mask map based on the points on an edge surface of the breast skin detected in step 3.1, and marking the breast skin region to be eliminated;
- and
- step 3.4:
- removing, based on a gradient image obtained in step 3.2, the breast skin region in the three-dimensional image by means of the mask map obtained in step 3.3;
- step 4:
- processing, by means of an optimized three-dimensional non-maximum suppression algorithm, the three-dimensional image with the breast skin region removed, so as to make a contour of a mammary gland tissue clearer;
- step 5:
- implementing, in six directions comprising positive and negative directions of an X-axis, positive and negative directions of a Y-axis, and positive and negative directions of a Z-axis, the search algorithm on the three-dimensional image subjected to non-maximum suppression, recording all detected edge points to obtain a complete three-dimensional contour of the mammary gland, filling the mammary gland region according to the contour of the mammary gland, and calculating a total number of voxels occupied by the filling to obtain a voxel volume of the mammary gland structure;
- and
- step 6:
- calculating a final mammary gland volume according to the voxel volume calculated in step 5 and a voxel spacing.