Patent ID: 7792343

Claim:
An apparatus for manipulating diagnostic images, including: a first memory which supplies a first 3D diagnostic image; a second memory which supplies a second 3D diagnostic image; a registration routine which automatically registers the first and second diagnostic 3D images from the first and second image memories; a display unit which concurrently displays a spatially corresponding pair of 2D slices from the first 3D diagnostic image and the registered 3D diagnostic image; manual tools which are employed by a user to generate 3D deformation parameters which deform one or more surfaces of the registered 2D slice images to bring them into closer correspondence; and an image reformatting routine which (1) reformats only the concurrently displayed 2D slices of the registered 3D images in accordance with the deformation parameters, (2) controls the display to display the reformatted 2D slice images in real time, and (3) saves the deformation parameters for use in reformatting other slices of the 3D images.