SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING SIZE OF AIRWAY LUMEN AND THICKNESS OF AIRWAY WALL

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To conquer faults of well-known techniques in a system and a method for determining a size of an airway lumen and a thickness of an airway wall.

SOLUTION: The method for determining the size of an airway lumen and the thickness of an airway wall includes: a step of computing a centerline of an airway; a step of computing a three-dimensional (3D) gradient of a volume of the airway within a first threshold; a step of positioning a tube along the centerline; a step of iteratively expanding the tube by increasing its radius until the radius of the tube reaches the first threshold; a step of determining inner and outer radii of the tube by checking the 3D gradient computed along an x-axis and a y-axis of the tube at a boundary of the tube at each iteration; and a step of fitting the tube to the airway by using the determined inner and outer radii. The inner radius of the fit tube is half a diameter of the airway lumen and the outer radius of the fit tube minus the inner radius of the fit tube is a thickness of the airway wall.

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