Patent Document ID: 8194959
Application ID: 11798705
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A medical image part recognition apparatus for recognizing a part of a body shown in each of plural axial images based on image data representing one series of axial images obtained by imaging an object to be inspected, said apparatus comprising: part determining means for calculating feature quantities expressing features of a body shown in each of plural axial images, calculating part certainty factors expressing likelihood that a part of the body shown in each of the plural axial images corresponds to each of plural reference parts for the object based on the feature quantities, and tentatively determining the part of the body shown in each of the plural axial images from among the plural reference parts based on the part certainty factors; and part correcting means for correcting the part tentatively determined for at least one axial image by said part determining means by creating a cost map in which a cost is set for each combination of the plural axial images and the plural reference parts based on the part certainty factors and searching for a matching curve between tentatively determined parts and the plural reference parts in a normal arrangement order in the object based on the cost map to obtain the matching curve having a lowest cost.