Patent ID: 9109391
Filing Date: 2015-08-18
Classification: A61B,E06B,G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for localizing a branching within a hollow organ in image data representing a spatial structure of the hollow organ, the method comprising: setting a start point within the hollow organ; determining, by an image processing device, at least one local threshold which corresponds to a presence of a wall of the hollow organ; carrying out a region growing method to generate growth layers using the determined at least one local threshold, each growth layer being comprised of pixels or voxels representing the hollow organ; analyzing connectivity of pixels or voxels in at least one growth layer from among the growth layers to determine whether the pixels or voxels of the at least one growth layer have touching edge portions throughout the growth layer; identifying the branching if the connectivity analysis indicates that at least two adjacent ones of the pixels or voxels of the at least one growth layer do not have touching edge portions; determining a branching center point from spatial information of the identified branching; and generating an image based on the identified branching and the determined branching center point.