Method, apparatus and system for localizing a spine

摘要

A method and a corresponding apparatus and system localizes a spine in an image, in particular a computed tomography (CT) image, of a human or animal body, allowing for a reduced need for computational power and/or memory on the one hand and assuring a reliable localization of the spine on the other hand. The method includes a) acquiring a plurality of slice images of at least a part of a human or animal body, and b) automatically selecting slice images and/or parts of slice images from the acquired plurality of slice images by considering at least one parameter (μz, νz, σz, Λz) characterizing a distribution of bones in the acquired slice images, wherein the selected slice images and/or parts of the slice images includes image information about the spine.

主权项

1. A method for localizing a spine in one of an image and a computed tomography image, of a human or animal body, the method comprising the following steps:
a) acquiring a plurality of slice images of at least a part of a human or animal body; and b) automatically selecting slice images and/or portions of slice images from the acquired plurality of slice images by considering at least one parameter characterizing a distribution of bones in the acquired plurality of slice images; wherein the selected slice images and/or portions of the slice images include image information about the spine; the at least one parameter represents a refined center of gravity of pixels relating to bones within a refinement window in the acquired plurality of slice images, and the refinement window spans around an original center of gravity of pixels relating to the bones in the acquired plurality of slice images; and the selected slice images and/or portions of the slice images are selected based on a difference between the original center of gravity and the refined center of gravity.