| US 7,596,258 B2 | ||
| Image processor | ||
| Yasuko Fujisawa, Otawara (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo (Japan); and Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Otawara-shi (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Nov. 01, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/976,915. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2003-379994 (JP), filed on Nov. 10, 2003. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0100203 A1, May 12, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06K 9/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 382—131 [382/128; 128/659; 128/653.1; 345/1.1] | 9 Claims |
| 1. An image processor, comprising:
a storage that stores the volume data of a medical image including a chest of an examined body;
a unit configured to specify a range including the heart based upon detecting an air region corresponding to the lungs in
a tomographic image acquired based upon the volume data and extracting the detected air region from the acquired tomographic
image so as to specify a cardiac search range;
a unit configured to detect a ventricular region within the specified cardiac search range and to detect a left ventricular
cluster and a right ventricular cluster based on specifying a circular contour of the left ventricular cluster and a crescent
contour of the right ventricular cluster;
a unit configured to detect the long axis of the ventricle in the detected ventricular region by acquiring a center of gravity
of plural ventricle clusters from plural tomographic images to approximate an ellipsoid, the long axis of the ellipsoid being
detected as the long axis of the ventricle;
a unit configured to generate plural sectional images perpendicular to the detected ventricular long axis based upon the volume
data;
a unit configured to detect the inner wall and the outer wall of the ventricle from each of the plural sectional images; and
a unit configured to analyze the ventricle based upon the detected ventricular inner wall and the outer wall.
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