Method of analysis of local patterns of curvature distributions

A method of detecting lesions and polyps in a digital image, wherein said image comprises a plurality of 3D volume points, said method comprising the steps of:

• identifying a surface in said image;
• calculating, for each point in the surface, a Gaussian curvature and a Mean curvature;
• forming, for each point in the surface, a set of rings of points about each said point, wherein each said point is a center point with respect to it's set of rings, each ring being of equal geodesic distance from the center point for the ring;
• calculating, for each ring, a standard deviation of the Gaussian curvature, and a standard deviation of the Mean curvature;
• selecting those rings with a minimum standard deviation for the Gaussian curvature and the Mean curvature;
• calculating, for the selected rings, a Gaussian curvature slope and a Mean curvature slope;
• and
• deleting from the surface those points where the Gaussian curvature slope is greater than or equal to zero, or where the Mean curvature slope is less than or equal to zero.

A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps for detecting lesions and polyps in a digital image, wherein said image comprises a plurality of 3D volume points, said method comprising the steps of:

• identifying a surface in said image;
• calculating, for each point in the surface, a first curvature measure;
• forming, for each point in the surface, a set of rings of points about each said point, wherein each said point is a center point with respect to it's set of rings, each ring being of equal geodesic distance from the center point for the ring;
• calculating, for each ring, a standard deviation of the first curvature measure;
• selecting those rings with a minimum standard deviation for the first curvature measure;
• calculating, for the selected rings, a first curvature slope;
• and
• deleting from the surface those points where the curvature slope departs from the pattern expected for a polyp or lesion.