Patent ID: 8917941

Claim:
A method for measuring shapes in thick multi-planar reformatted (MPR) digital images, comprising the steps of: automatically measuring a shape in a digital MPR image; scan-converting points corresponding to the identified shape on a starting plane of a thick MPR slab in an image volume from which the MPR was obtained to generate a plurality of starting points for the identified shape, wherein the thick MPR slab comprises a plurality of slices; calculating an end point in the MPR slab corresponding to each starting point, wherein calculating an end point corresponding to each starting point comprises extending a normal of the MPR slab from each starting point until an end plane of the MPR slab is reached in the image volume, wherein the end point corresponds to a point of intersection of the extended normal and the end plane of the MPR slab; propagating a ray from each starting point to each corresponding end point; accumulating samples along each ray; and computing a desired measurement value from the accumulated samples after reaching the end point for all rays, wherein the steps of automatically measuring a shape, scan-converting points, calculating an end point, propagating a ray, accumulating samples, and computing a desired measurement value are performed by a computer processor.