Patent ID: 7379572

Claim:
A method of processing a set of cross-sectional images defining a volumetric region encompassing an inner surface, an outer surface, and intervening tissue between the inner surface and the outer surface of a colon, comprising: obtaining a set of voxels representing a total scanned volume from the set of cross sectional images of the colon; and performing segmentation to extract a set of voxels representing the volumetric region encompassing the inner surface, the outer surface, and the intervening tissue between the inner surface and the outer surface of the colon from the set of voxels representing the total scanned volume, wherein the performing step includes generating a first set of segmentation voxels by thresholding the set of voxels representing the total scanned volume with a value characteristic of the colon; performing organ based analysis of the set of voxels representing the total scanned volume using seed locations obtained from the first set of segmentation voxels to obtain a second set of segmentation voxels; and determining an intersection of the first set of segmentation voxels and the second set of segmentation voxels to obtain the set of voxels representing the volumetric region encompassing the inner surface, the outer surface, and the intervening tissue of the colon.