Automated Detection of Airway and Vessel Orientations for Quantitative Analysis and Visualization

A method, comprising:

• displaying a three-dimensional (3D) image of a lung;
• receiving a selection of a vessel of the lung;
• and
• displaying a two-dimensional (2D) cross-section image of the vessel parallel to the vessel's long axis,
• wherein the display of the 2D cross-section image occurs almost immediately after the selection of the vessel is received.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to perform the steps of:
• visualizing a three-dimensional (3D) segmented bronchial tree;
• receiving a user input, wherein the user input corresponds to a click-point that identifies an airway and the click-point is outside of the 3D segmented bronchial tree;
• computing a two-dimensional (2D) cross-section of the airway perpendicular to the airway's long axis;
• and
• displaying an image of the 2D cross-section of the airway perpendicular to the airway's long axis.