Patent ID: 7835497

Claim:
A method for automatic determination from a tomographic image data record of a patient, comprising: scanning the patient using a tomography system; reconstructing a three-dimensional tomographic image data record of at least a part of the patient from the scanning; determining a spatial position and orientation of vertebrae of the patient; defining a diagnostic question, in which the structure of a vertebra is itself important, the defining including, determining a position of end points of a transverse processes of the vertebra, determining planes of a dorsal plate and ventral plate and of an angle-bisecting plane between the dorsal plate and the ventral plate, determining a plane parallel to a connecting line between the end points of the transverse processes and perpendicular to a central interplate plane, and calculating a multiplicity of slice image surfaces parallel to a coronal plane; automatically determining medically relevant slice image areas based on the defining; and creating and displaying slice images of the automatically determined medically relevant slice image areas, wherein the vertebrae are automatically annotated in at least one of at least one topogram and the three-dimensional tomographic image data record, and the automatic annotation of the vertebrae is applied to a manual definition of a vertebra.