Patent ID: 7043290

Claim:
A method for segmentation of an object in a 2D or 3D image data set by extracting a path along the object in a selected region, the method comprising: a) selecting a start point of the path as a first active point, b) adapting an adaptable geometric primitive surface model to the object in a first active section around the start point by adjusting geometric model parameters of the geometric primitive surface model, c) finding the next point of the selected region by the steps of: c1) copying the geometric model parameters of the adapted geometric primitive surface model of the active point to a plurality of neighboring points neighboring the active point, c2) orienting the geometric primitive surface model around each of said plurality of neighboring points using said copied model parameters and searching the closest object points around each of said neighboring points based on said model, c3) adapting the geometric primitive surface models to the found object points for each neighboring point by adjusting geometric model parameters of the geometric primitive surface model, c4) selecting the neighboring points for which the adapted geometric primitive surface model fits best to the object as a next point of the selected region and as a next active point, and d) repeating step c) until an end point of the path or a predetermined number of iterations is reached.