CEREBRAL BLOOD VESSEL EXTRACTION PROGRAM IN MRA IMAGE AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cerebral blood vessel extraction program capable of extracting the accurate three-dimensional structure data high in anti-noise properties of the center line of a cerebral blood vessel by utilizing an MRA image, and an apparatus therefor. SOLUTION: A slice is searched from the vicinity of a neck part to a head top part to calculate the blood vessel region start point of an artery and a blood vessel region is searched on the slice from the start point by a region expansion method and the center line of the cerebral blood vessel is extracted by tracking the center-of-gravity point of the searched blood vessel region. By this constitution, the extraction of the blood vessel region from the MRA image of the whole of the head is completed. Next, as the treatment of an unnecessary blood vessel due to the effect of noise, or the like, the unification of the center line and the removal of a short branch line are performed.