US 2026/0030802 A1 · METHOD FOR POST-PROCESSING DETECTED TUBES AND LINES IN MEDICAL IMAGES

Abstract

A medical tube-tracing method is described herein, where a curve is fitted to pixels of a binary segmentation mask representing a medical tube in an X-ray image. The curve may then be used to generate a more precise and realistic representation of the medical tube in the X-ray image. A location of the tube may be saved as a set of coordinates, which may reduce an amount of processing and computation performed by software applications to display the medical tube in the x-ray image, and provide the software applications more freedom and flexibility in displaying the medical tube.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method, comprising:

receiving a binary segmentation mask of an X-ray image, the binary segmentation mask including a set of positive pixels corresponding to a location of a medical tube in the X-ray image, and a set of negative pixels corresponding to portions of the X-ray image not including the medical tube;
iteratively adding points along a trajectory of the positive pixels in the binary segmentation mask to form a polyline, each point forming a node of the polyline;
generating a representation of the medical tube based on the polyline;
and
displaying the representation superimposed on the X-ray image on a display device.

2 more elements

An X-ray imaging system, comprising:

a processor, and a memory storing instructions that when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a binary segmentation mask of an X-ray image, the binary segmentation mask including a set of positive pixels corresponding to a location of a medical tube in the X-ray image, and a set of negative pixels corresponding to portions of the X-ray image not including the medical tube;
iteratively add points along a trajectory of the positive pixels in the binary segmentation mask to form a polyline, each point forming a node of the polyline;
generate a representation of the medical tube based on the polyline;
and
display the representation superimposed on the X-ray image on a display device and/or store the representation as a set of coordinate points, each coordinate point corresponding to a node of the polyline.

3 more elements

A computer-implemented method for fitting a polyline to a set of pixels of an image corresponding to a tube in the image, the method comprising:

starting with a single node, iteratively adding nodes of the polyline to extend the polyline along a trajectory of the pixels in the image;
after adding each node, iteratively adjusting a position of each node of the polyline to more precisely align the polyline with the pixels, by applying an attractive force to the node in a direction of a closest pixel of the set of pixels, a magnitude of the attractive force based on a distance to the closest pixel, the closest pixel determined by minimizing a sum of distances of the node to all pixels of the set of pixels, and further adjusting the position of the node by a distance and a direction calculated based on a curvature force and an elastic force applied to the node;
wherein the curvature force is based on an angle between a first line segment of the polyline ending at the node and a second line segment beginning at the node, and the elastic force is calculated as a function of a first distance between the node and a previous node of the polyline, and a second distance between the node and a subsequent node of the polyline, and is applied in a direction of either the previous node or the subsequent node.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

18/783,214Filed 24 Jul 2024

Published

29 Jan 2026

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification17 codes

G06T 7/11
Segmentation; Edge detection: region-based segmentation
G06T 11/23
Drawing from basic elements: using straight lines or curves
A61B 6/12
Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment: arrangements…
A61B 6/52
Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis; Apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis combined with radiation therapy equipment: devices…

Method for post-processing detected tubes and lines in medical images

Life of this patent

Method for post-processing detected tubes and lines in medical images

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20