# US 2008/0187202 A1 · 3D Segmentation of the Colon in MR Colonography

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- Number: US 2008/0187202 A1
- Document ID: US20080187202A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 12/026,002
- Filed: 2008-02-05
- Published: 2008-08-07
- Earliest claimed: 2007-02-06
- Assignees: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
- Inventors: Zhen Qian; Matthias Wolf; Luca Bogoni
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080187202A1

## CPC

- G06T 7/0012: {Biomedical image inspection}
- G06T 7/12: Edge-based segmentation
- G06T 7/149: involving deformable models, e.g. active contour models
- G06T 2207/10088: Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
- G06T 2207/20101: Interactive definition of point of interest, landmark or seed
- G06T 2207/20116: Active contour; Active surface; Snakes
- G06T 2207/20168: Radial search
- G06T 2207/30032: Colon polyp
- Y10S 128/922: including image analysis
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

A method for segmenting a tubular structure includes providing a three-dimensional image containing the tubular structure, providing at least one seed point within the tubular structure, fitting an initial cylinder into the tubular structure at the seed point, adding cylinder segments to the initial cylinder in forward and backward directions within the three-dimensional image of the tubular structure by tracking the cylinder model over the tubular structure, modeling each cylinder segment using parameters to account for a three-dimensional orientation, a radius, a length and a curvature, describing an intensity image of the tubular structure using a second model to represent an edge and intensity distribution of the tubular structure, fitting the parameters as the cylinder segment is added to the intensity image, and outputting cylinder segments as a segmentation of the tube.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for segmenting a tubular structure comprising:
providing a three-dimensional image including the tubular structure;
providing at least one seed point within the tubular structure;
fitting an initial cylinder into the tubular structure at the seed point;
adding cylinder segments to the initial cylinder in forward and backward directions within the three-dimensional image by tracking the cylinder model over the tubular structure;
modeling each cylinder segment using parameters to account for a three-dimensional orientation, a radius, a length and a curvature;
describing an intensity image of the tubular structure using a second model to represent an edge and intensity distribution of the tubular structure;
fitting the parameters as the cylinder segment is added to the intensity image; and
outputting the cylinder segments as a segmentation of the tube.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the cylinder segments form a bendable cylinder, which is controlled by parameters including:
dx, dy for the translation, r for the radius, and φx, φz, for the rotation angles on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the bending angles are determined by differences of the rotation angles dφx, dφz from two consecutive cylinders.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising an inhomogeneity correction applied to the three-dimensional image.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, further comprising:
determining a foreground of the three-dimensional image;
blurring the foreground to determine a blurred foreground; and
normalizing the three-dimensional image with the blurred foreground.

### Claim 6

A computer readable medium embodying instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for segmenting a tubular structure, comprising:
computer readable medium embodying instructions for providing a three-dimensional image including the tubular structure;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for providing at least one seed point within a lumen of the tubular structure;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for fitting an initial cylinder into the tubular structure at the seed point;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for adding cylinder segments to the initial cylinder in forward and backward directions within the three-dimensional image by tracking over the tubular structure;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for modeling each cylinder segment using parameters to account for a three-dimensional orientation, a radius, a length and a curvature;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for describing an intensity image of the tubular structure using a second model to represent an edge and intensity distribution of the tubular structure;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for fitting the parameters as the cylinder segment is added to the intensity image; and
computer readable medium embodying instructions for outputting cylinder segments as a segmentation of the tube.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The computer readable medium embodying instructions of claim 6, wherein the cylinder segments form a bendable cylinder, which is controlled by parameters including: dx, dy for the translation, r for the radius, and φx, φz for the rotation angles on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The computer readable medium embodying instructions of claim 7, wherein the bending angles are determined by differences of the rotation angles dφx, dφz from two consecutive cylinders.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The computer readable medium embodying instructions of claim 6, further comprising an inhomogeneity correction applied to the three-dimensional image.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The computer readable medium embodying instructions of claim 9, further comprising:
computer readable medium embodying instructions for determining a foreground of the three-dimensional image;
computer readable medium embodying instructions for blurring the foreground to determine a blurred foreground; and computer readable medium embodying instructions for normalizing the three-dimensional image with the blurred foreground.

### Claim 11

A system for segmenting a tubular structure comprising:
a memory device storing a dataset comprising a three-dimensional image containing the tubular structure including at least one seed point within the tubular structure and a plurality of instructions embodying the system for segmenting a tube; and
a processor for receiving the dataset and executing the plurality of instructions to perform a method comprising,
fitting an initial cylinder into the tubular structure at the seed point;
adding cylinder segments to the initial cylinder in forward and backward directions within the three-dimensional image by tracking the cylinder model over the tubular structure;
modeling each cylinder segment using parameters to account for a three-dimensional orientation, a radius, a length and a curvature;
describing an intensity image of the tubular structure using a second model to represent an edge and intensity distribution of the tubular structure;
fitting the parameters as the cylinder segment is added to the intensity image; and
outputting cylinder segments as a segmentation of the tube.