Patent ID: 7167172

Claim:
A method of segmenting a three-dimensional structure, which is contained in an object, from at least one two-dimensional image (I 1 , I 2 ) which represents a slice of the object, the method utilizing a deformable model (M) whose surface is formed by a network of meshes which interconnect network points on the surface of the model, and which method includes the steps of: a) determining the meshes (T 3 , T 4 ) which intersect the image (I 1 , I 2 ), b) searching, for each mesh determined in the step a), a respective structure point (x is ), situated on the surface of the structure, along a search line (n i ), which traverses the mesh, extends in the image plane I and whose direction corresponds to the direction of the projection of the normal n onto image plane I, wherein the projection of the normal and the normal n itself are situated in a plane extending perpendicularly to the image plane I and perpendicularly to line segments of the meshes which intersect the image, c) calculating anew the network points (x im ) of the model (M) on the basis of the structure points (x is ) found.