Patent ID: 7817831

Claim:
A method for identification of a contrasted blood vessel in digital 3D image data, comprising: a) selecting one image voxel, associated with the blood vessel, in the 3D image data as a seed point; b) selecting, by a processor, an intensity of the seed point as a current threshold value for the intensity of image voxels, and associating the seed point to a seed point set with the current threshold value; c) using, by a processor, a test criterion, for finding new seed points, to search for the new seed points in the image voxels which are adjacent to the seed point, and associating the new seed points to seed point sets as a function of their intensities and the current threshold value; d) repeating, by a processor, step c) for the seed points of the seed point sets until no further seed points can be found with the current threshold value; e) storing, on a computer readable medium, the seed points which have been found as vessel voxels associated with that blood vessel, and marking the vessel voxels with the current threshold value; f) reducing, by a processor, the current threshold value; g) repeating, by a processor, steps c) to f) until a termination criterion is satisfied; h) identifying, by a processor, the blood vessel as the set of all vessel voxels in the image data, wherein a number of seed points associated during one specific section of the method to a same seed point set with the threshold value is recorded, a leakage signal is produced if the number of seed points exceeds a maximum value, and when the leakage signal occurs, those seed points which have been associated with the threshold value during that section are not stored as vessel voxels, the method is terminated at the location of the leakage and the remaining method is continued.