Patent ID: 8611622

Claim:
A method for determining an estimation of a topological support of a tubular based anatomic structure comprising an inner wall and a plurality of distinct first regions and a plurality of distinct second regions, said first and second regions having respective first and second substances that are different and have different densities from each other and wherein said first substance density is representative of the anatomic structure, said method comprising: a) obtaining image data representative of the tubular based anatomic structure; b) placing an initial seed in an initial region selected from one of said plurality of distinct first regions; c) performing an initial region growing until an initial resulting area comprises at least a portion of said inner wall and at least a portion of a neighboring region corresponding to one of said plurality of distinct second regions; d) starting a tree comprising an initial tree node corresponding to said initial region; e) for each neighboring region: placing a subsequent seed in said neighboring region; performing a corresponding subsequent region growing until a subsequent resulting area comprises at least a portion of said inner wall and at least a portion of an additional neighboring region, wherein said additional neighboring region has a substance that is different from the substance in the region in which the subsequent seed was placed; and adding a tree node corresponding to said neighboring region in said tree; f) performing processing step e) for further additional neighboring regions; g) filtering said tree according to predetermined topological parameters to thereby determine said estimation of said topological support of the tubular based anatomic structure; and h) performing at least one of storing and displaying at least one part of the estimation of said topological support of the tubular based anatomic structure.