Automatic detection of spine axis and spine boundary in digital radiography
AssigneeSiemens Corporate Research, Inc.
InventorsGuo-Qing Wei, Jianzhong Qian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for automatically detecting a spinal axis and spinal boundaries from an image, in accordance with the present invention, includes scanning an input image in at least two scan directions to generate a ridge map associated with each scan direction. The ridge maps are fused to enhance a projected spinal axis. A piece-wise linear approximation of the projected spine axis is provided, and a gradient map of the input image is enhanced project spine boundaries. Spine boundaries are determined by constraining the projected spine boundaries relative to each other and the spine axis.
Claims22
A method for automatically detecting a spinal axis and spinal boundaries from an image, comprising the steps of:
- scanning an input image in at least two scan directions to generate a ridge map associated with each scan direction;
- fusing the ridge maps to enhance a projected spine axis;
- providing a piece-wise linear approximation of the projected spine axis;
- enhancing a gradient map of the input image to highlight pixels lying on projected spine boundaries;
- and
- determining the spine boundaries by constraining the projected spine boundaries relative to each other and the spine axis.
A method for automatically detecting a spinal axis and spinal boundaries from an image, comprising the steps of:
- providing an input image of a spine;
- scanning the input image in at least two scan directions to generate a ridge map associated with each scan direction;
- fusing the ridge maps to enhance a projected spinal axis;
- providing a piece-wise linear approximation of the projected spine axis;
- enhancing a gradient map of the input image to highlight pixels lying on projected spine boundaries associated with the linear approximation of the projected spine axis;
- providing a piece-wise linear approximation of the projected spine boundaries;
- and
- constraining the projected spine boundaries relative to each other and the projected spine axis to determine spine boundaries.
A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps automatically detecting a spinal axis and spinal boundaries from an image, the method steps comprising:
- scanning an input image in at least two scan directions to generate a ridge map associated with each scan direction;
- fusing the ridge maps to enhance a projected spinal axis;
- providing a piece-wise linear approximation of the projected spine axis;
- enhancing a gradient map of the input image to highlight projected spine boundaries;
- and
- determining the spine boundaries by constraining the projected spine boundaries relative to each other and the spine axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.