Computation of contour
OwnerMiguel Mulet Parada, Jacques Feldmar +1inventors
InventorsMiguel Mulet Parada, Jacques Feldmar, Jerome Declerck
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Abstract
A method of computing a contour, such as the endocardial boundary in an ultrasound long-axis view of the heart, is disclosed. A plurality of points are input, each point being indicative of a predetermined landmark point in the image. A preliminary contour is then derived based on the input points and a known average contour shape which has been obtained from a database of contours derived from previous images. Finally, the preliminary contour is deformed to fit features identified in the image by a feature-extraction algorithm, to obtain the computed contour.
Claims23
A method of computing a contour comprising the steps of:
- inputting a plurality of points, each point being indicative of a predetermined landmark point in an image;
- deriving a preliminary contour based on the input points and a known average contour shape;
- and
- deforming the preliminary contour to fit features identified in the image to obtain the computed contour.
A method of computing the motion of a contour, for a temporal sequence of images of a subject, comprising the steps of:
- computing the contour for one image of the sequence according to the method of anyone of the preceding claims;
- using the computed contour as a new preliminary contour for a further image in the sequence;
- deforming the new preliminary contour to fit features identified in the further image to obtain the computed contour for the further image;
- and
- repeating the using and deforming steps to obtain a computed contour for each image in the sequence.
A computer system comprising a data processor, a data storage means, input device and a display, the data processor being adapted to process data in accordance with an executable program stored in the data storage means, wherein the executable program is adapted to execute the method of any one of the preceding claims on data representing the image displayed on the display and using the plurality of points indicative of predetermined landmark points in the image input with the input device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.