Method for tracking a clinical target in medical images

A device for tracking a clinical target in a current image of a sequence of digital medical images, obtained by an ultrasound or endoscopic imaging technique, with respect to a reference image of said sequence, a digital image comprising image elements, the device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processor configure the device to perform acts comprising:
• receiving the sequence of digital medical images;
• obtaining a segmentation of a contour of said target from said reference image;
• determining a region delimiting an interior of the segmented contour of the target in said reference image;
• obtaining a confidence measurement per image element in said determined region for said reference image and for said current image;
• deforming said contour by minimizing a cost function based on an intensity difference between the current image and the reference image in the determined region, said cost function being weighted by the confidence measurements obtained for the image elements of the region;
• and
• adapting the reference image at least from the intensities of the current image and the current image confidence measurements in the target region and wherein the cost function takes into account the intensities of the adapted reference image.

A non-transitory processor-readable recording medium on which is recorded a computer program comprising program code instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor of an image processing device, for tracking a clinical target in a current image of a sequence of digital medical images, obtained by an ultrasound or endoscopic imaging technique, with respect to a reference image of said sequence, a digital image of the sequence comprising image elements, said instructions configuring the image processing device to perform acts comprising:

• receiving the sequence of digital medical images;
• obtaining a segmentation of a contour of said target from said reference image;
• determining a zone delimiting an interior of the segmented contour of the target in said reference image;
• obtaining a confidence measurement per image element in said determined zone for said reference image and for said current image;
• deforming said contour obtained by minimising a cost function based on an intensity difference between the current image and the reference image in the determined region, said cost function being weighted by the confidence measurements obtained for the image elements of the region;
• and
• adapting the reference image at least from the intensities of the current image and the current image confidence measurements in the target region, and wherein the cost function takes into account the intensities of the adapted reference image.