METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED DETECTION OF TISSUE INTERIOR TO A MAMMALIAN RIBCAGE FROM AN IN VIVO IMAGE

摘要

Described herein are systems and methods for efficient and accurate, automated detection of a region of interest interior to the ribcage from an in vivo mammalian image. It is found that efficient, automated identification of the region of interest interior to the ribcage can be achieved by the use of both a bone distance mask and a surface distance mask. The technique solves the problem of accurate and fast identification of the region of interest for a wide range of sizes and shapes of mammals, e.g., small mammals such as mice.

主权项

1. A method for automatically detecting a region of interest in a 3D image of a mammal corresponding to soft tissue largely or exclusively interior to the mammal rib cage, the method comprising:
automatically determining from the 3D image of the mammal, by a processor of a computing device, a surface distance image comprising intensity values at each of a plurality of points in three dimensions, each of the intensity values corresponding to a distance from a given point in 3D space to the nearest point on the outer surface of the mammal; automatically determining, by the processor, a bone distance image comprising intensity values at each of a plurality of points in three dimensions, each of the intensity values corresponding to a distance from a given point in 3D space to the nearest identified bone tissue of the mammal; and automatically detecting, by the processor, the region of interest corresponding to soft tissue interior to the mammal rib cage using the surface distance image and the bone distance image.