Atlas-based image compression

摘要

A technique for selecting portions of a medical image data set to be stored and portions of the medical image data set to be discarded in order to reduce the overall amount of image data that is stored for each image data set. The selection is based on the clinical purpose for obtaining the medical image data. The clinical purpose for obtaining the medical image is used to select an atlas. The atlas is labeled with information that establishes the relative relevance of various regions of the atlas. The atlas is aligned to the image and the labeling information is transferred from the atlas to the medical image. Each region of the medical image is then processed based on the labeling information received from the atlas. The regions of greatest relevance are stored at their full resolution. Regions of lesser relevance are stored at less than the full resolution. Finally, regions of no relevance are discarded and not stored at all.