| US 7,519,209 B2 | ||
| System and methods of organ segmentation and applications of same | ||
| Benoit M. Dawant, Nashville, Tenn. (US); and Zhujiang Cao, Plymouth, Minn. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jun. 23, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/165,565. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/582090, filed on Jun. 23, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0013482 A1, Jan. 19, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06K 9/00 (2006.01); A61B 6/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 382—128 [382/199; 378/21] | 24 Claims |
| 1. A method for segmentation of an organ of a living subject with a variable shape and boundary and surrounded by structures
and tissues in connection with an image containing the organ, wherein the boundary of the organ is embedded as a zero level
set of an embedding function, Φ, comprising the steps of:
a. initializing a contour inside the organ in the image;
b. introducing a speed function that is capable of accumulating spatial and temporal information of a propagating front of
the contour, wherein the speed function has a term, g0;
c. defining an image-dependent static term, gbase;
d. setting the term g0=gbase;
e. computing {(x,y,z)|Φ(x,y,z)=0} at iteration n, so as to obtain a set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function
Φ, wherein n=1, 2, 3, . . . , and coordinates (x, y, z) represent a point on the propagating front of the contour;
f. retrieving the static term gbase(x, y, z) for each of the set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ;
g. extending the retrieved static term gbase(x, y, z) to a narrow band in which the embedding function Φ is computed so as to generate an extended term gext;
h. updating the term g0=g0gext so as to update the speed function;
i. computing the embedding function Φ at iteration (n+1) using the updated speed function; and
j. iteratively repeating steps (e)-(i) by a computer for a predetermined number of iterations or until the propagating front
of the contour does not move,
wherein the front of the contour corresponds to the boundary of the organ.
|