3D SEGMENTATION OF THE COLON IN MR COLONOGRAPHY

摘要

A method for segmenting a tubular structure includes providing a three-dimensional image including the tubular structure, providing at least one seed point within the tubular structure (101), fitting an initial cylinder into the tubular structure at the seed point (102), adding cylinder segments to the initial cylinder in forward and backward directions within the three-dimensional image of the tubular structure by tracking the cylinder model over the tubular structure (103), modeling each cylinder segment using parameters to account for a three-dimensional orientation, a radius, a length and a curvature, describing an intensity image of the tubular structure using a second model to represent an edge and intensity distribution of the tubular structure, fitting the parameters as the cylinder segment is added to the intensity image, and outputting cylinder segments as a segmentation of the tube (104). (Figure 1)