Patent ID: 8463011
Filing Date: 2013-06-11
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for extracting a colonic centerline from a digital image, comprising the steps of: segmenting a colon from a digital image of a patient's abdomen, and selecting one extreme point of the colon in the segmented image as a source point; and generating an initial centerline path through the colon using a first distance transform and a second distance transform, starting from a point with a greatest distance to the source point as determined by the first distance transform, and adding points to the centerline path by selecting points with a greatest distance to the source point but less than the distance of the starting point as determined by the first distance transform that are farthest from the wall of the colon using a second distance transform, wherein generating an initial centerline path through the colon using the first distance transform and the second distance transform further comprises repeating, for each current path point, until the source point is reached, visiting all k connected neighbors of the current path point, wherein if the first distance transform of a currently visited neighbor is less than the first distance transform of the current path point and the second distance transform of the currently visited neighbor is greater than the second distance transform of the current path point, the currently visited neighbor is added to the path and is assigned as the current path point, if the first distance transform of a currently visited neighbor is less than the first distance transform of the current path point and the second distance transform of the currently visited neighbor is equal to the second distance transform of the current path point, the currently visited neighbor is assigned as a first priority backup point, if the first distance transform of a currently visited neighbor is equal to the first distance transform of the current path point and the second distance transform of the currently visited neighbor is greater than the second distance transform of the current path point, the currently visited neighbor is assigned as a second priority backup point, if the first distance transform of a currently visited neighbor is greater than the first distance transform of the current path point and the second distance transform of the currently visited neighbor is greater than the second distance transform of the current path point, the currently visited neighbor is assigned as a third priority backup point, and if the first distance transform of a currently visited neighbor is less than the first distance transform of the current path point and the second distance transform of the currently visited neighbor is less than the second distance transform of the current path point, the currently visited neighbor is assigned as a fourth priority backup point.