Patent ID: 6757414
Filing Date: 2004-06-29
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A method for segmenting an image acquired with a medical imaging system to identify the boundary of an organ, comprising:A. acquiring image data of said organ with said medical imaging system; B. reconstructing an image corresponding generally to said organ using said acquired image data; C. producing an intensity map having pixels lying within said boundary of said organ by segmenting the reconstructed image, including the steps of: i. dilating said acquired image data so as to produce a dilated image; ii. generating a dilation boundary by subtracting said reconstructed image from said dilated image; and iii. generating said intensity map based, at least in-part, on intensity values corresponding to said dilation boundary; D. creating an edge map by detecting edges of said reconstructed image; E. refining said intensity map by using information in said edge map so as to include variations in intensity corresponding to said boundary of said organ; F. locating a center of said organ; G. searching radially outwardly from said center to locate said variations in intensity; H. generating an image of said outer boundary based, at least in-part, on said variations, I. iteratively moving said dilation boundary radially outwardly; J. calculating a standard deviation of intensity values corresponding to the dilated boundary for each iteration; and K. determining that said dilation boundary has moved across said outer boundary based on a characteristic of said standard deviation.