Patent ID: 7627155

Claim:
A method to segment white matter fiber tracts from MRI image data by diffusion tensor imaging wherein a surface of an object is evolved using a surface evolution velocity, comprising: a processor to perform the following steps: determining the surface evolution velocity as a function of a normalized tensor scalar product plus a coincidence term that measures the coincidence of a normal direction and a tensor field; and growing the object in accordance with the surface evolution velocity; wherein the surface evolution velocity is expressed as F=mean(NTSP (D i , D i+1 ), NTSP(D i , D i+2 ))+βCOIN wherein: NTSP ⁡ ( D i , D i - 1 ) = D i : D i - 1 Trace ⁡ ( D i ) ⁢ Trace ⁡ ( D i - 1 ) , wherein D i is the diffusion tensor; NTSP (D i , D i−1 ) is the normalized tensor scalar product; COIN is the coincidence factor and β is a constant.