Apparatus and method for detecting error in lesion contour, apparatus and method for correcting error in lesion contour, and apparatus for inspecting error in lesion contour

An apparatus for inspecting an error in a contour of a lesion, the apparatus comprising:

• an extracting unit configured to extract a contour of a lesion in each of a plurality of two-dimensional image frames that form a three-dimensional image;
• an error determining unit configured to determine a presence or an absence of an error in the contour of the lesion in a target image frame of the two-dimensional image frames based on estimation information about the lesion in the target image frame and/or an energy value that corresponds to the contour of the lesion in the target image frame;
• a generating unit configured to, in response to a determination by the error determining unit that the error is present in the contour of the lesion in the target image frame, generate a reference lesion contour based on the contour of the lesion in at least one of the two-dimensional image frames that precedes the target image frame and/or is subsequent to the target image frame;
• and
• a changing unit configured to:
• modify the reference lesion contour to generate a plurality of lesion contour candidates;
• and
• change the contour of the lesion in the target image frame to one of the lesion contour candidates.

A method of correcting an error in a contour of a lesion, the method comprising:

• extracting a contour of a lesion in each of a plurality of two-dimensional image frames that form a three-dimensional image;
• generating a reference lesion contour based on a contour of the lesion in at least one of the two-dimensional image frames that precedes a target image frame of the two-dimensional image frames and/or is subsequent to the target image frame of the two-dimensional image frames;
• modifying the reference lesion contour to produce a plurality of lesion contour candidates;
• and
• changing the contour of the lesion in the target image frame to one of the plurality of lesion contour candidates.