System and method for improving workflow efficiences in reading tomosynthesis medical image data

摘要

A system and a method are disclosed that forms a novel, synthetic, two-dimensional image of an anatomical region such as a breast. Two-dimensional regions of interest (ROIs) such as masses are extracted from three-dimensional medical image data, such as digital tomosynthesis reconstructed volumes. Using image processing technologies, the ROIs are then blended with two-dimensional image information of the anatomical region to form the synthetic, two-dimensional image. This arrangement and resulting image desirably improves the workflow of a physician reading medical image data, as the synthetic, two-dimensional image provides detail previously only seen by interrogating the three-dimensional medical image data.

主权项

1. A system for processing image data relative to an imaged anatomical region comprising:
a. a detection and extraction process that detects and extracts one or more two-dimensional (2D) regions of interest (ROIs) containing an object of interest from a three-dimensional (3D) medical image of the anatomical region; b. a first 2D projection image of the anatomical region obtained from a medical image source; c. a blending process that generates a second 2D projection image of the anatomical region by blending the one or more 2D ROIs onto the first 2D projection image to generate the second 2D projection image of the anatomical region; and d. at least one of a display and a data storage arrangement receiving an output of the second 2D projection image.