Microcirculation image clarity evaluation method, device, equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of image processing technology, and more particularly to a method, apparatus, device, and storage medium for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity and extracting vascular regions and their edges; counting the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel lengths exceed a specified threshold; and evaluating the clarity of the frame of microcirculation image based on the statistical results. The method evaluates and rates the clarity of microcirculation images based on the vascular density and vascular region edge sharpness within the microcirculation image. This method avoids situations where only a portion of an image is in focus due to artifacts such as jitter and is still judged as clear, and offers high computational efficiency. During or after recording, the method evaluates the clarity of each frame to filter out portions of the image with poor image quality, thereby improving the identification of vascular regions and the accuracy of computational results.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of medical image processing, and in particular to a method, device, equipment and storage medium for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images. Background Art

[0002] Microcirculation is the circulation of blood in the capillaries between arterioles and venules, and is the most basic structural and functional unit of the circulatory system. It encompasses the circulation of body fluids within arterioles, venules, lymphatic capillaries, and tissue ducts. Every organ and tissue cell in the human body relies on microcirculation for oxygen and nutrients, energy transfer, information exchange, and the elimination of carbon dioxide and metabolic waste. Microcirculation reflects the body's physiological state and changes, and studies have confirmed that discrepancies between changes in systemic circulation and microcirculation indicate organ dysfunction and poor prognosis.

[0003] The invention of handheld live microscopes (HVMs) has enabled visualization of microcirculation. However, HVMs require manual operation during monitoring to capture microcirculatory vascular images from video. Current image processing methods for microcirculatory imaging involve manually capturing video when camera shake is minimal or stable, then extracting a few subjectively considered good single-frame images from the captured video for analysis. However, this approach can lead to the selection of images with artifacts such as artifacts like jitter and large brightness variations, potentially compromising the quality of vascular imaging. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation videos. During the recording process or when manually capturing a moving image after recording, the clarity of each frame of the image can be evaluated, and portions with poor (unqualified) image quality can be filtered out, thereby helping to improve the recognition accuracy of vascular regions and the accuracy of calculation results.

[0005] In order to achieve the purpose of the present invention, the following technical solutions are adopted:

[0006] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for evaluating the clarity of a microcirculation image, comprising the following steps:

[0007] Acquire a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity and extract the blood vessel area and the edge of the blood vessel area;

[0008] Count the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds the specified threshold;

[0009] The clarity of the microcirculation image of this frame was evaluated based on the statistical results.

[0010] A further improvement is that the specific method for evaluating the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results includes:

[0011] If the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds the specified threshold does not reach the preset threshold, it means that the blood vessel density of the microcirculation image frame is insufficient, and the microcirculation image frame can be directly determined to be unclear and discarded.

[0012] A further improvement is that the specified threshold is 70px and the preset threshold is 8.

[0013] A further improvement is that if the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel lengths exceed a specified threshold reaches a preset threshold, the clarity of the microcirculation image frame is further rated.

[0014] A further improvement is that the specific method for rating the clarity of the microcirculation image frame includes:

[0015] The microcirculation image frame is rated according to the sharpness of the edge of the blood vessel region. The sharper the edge, the clearer the microcirculation image frame.

[0016] A further improvement is that the specific method for rating the microcirculation image frame according to the sharpness of the edge of the blood vessel region includes:

[0017] The edges of the vascular regions are skeletonized, and pixel points of the skeletonized microcirculation image are accumulated to obtain a first cumulative value. Pixel points of the microcirculation image with the edges of the vascular regions extracted but not skeletonized are accumulated to obtain a second cumulative value. The second cumulative value is then ratioed to the first cumulative value. The closer the ratio is to 1, the sharper the edge.

[0018] A further improvement is that the rating is divided into high-quality clarity and medium-quality clarity. If the ratio result is between 1-1.3, it is judged as high-quality clarity. If the ratio result is not between 1-1.3, it is judged as medium-quality clarity.

[0019] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a device for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images, comprising:

[0020] An acquisition module, used for acquiring a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity;

[0021] An extraction module, used to extract the blood vessel area and the edge of the blood vessel area;

[0022] A statistics module is used to count the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds a specified threshold;

[0023] The first evaluation module is used to evaluate the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results of the statistical module.

[0024] In a third aspect, the present invention proposes an electronic device comprising a processor, a memory, and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, wherein when the processor executes the computer program, it implements a microcirculation image clarity evaluation method as described in any one of the first aspects.

[0025] In a fourth aspect, the present invention proposes a computer-readable storage medium, which includes a stored computer program, wherein when the computer program is running, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute a microcirculation image clarity evaluation method as described in any one of the first aspects.

[0026] Beneficial effects of the present invention:

[0027] The present invention evaluates and rates the clarity of microcirculation images based on the vascular density and vascular area edge sharpness in the microcirculation images. This can avoid the situation where only part of the image is in focus due to human jitter but is still judged as clear, and has high computational efficiency.

[0028] The present invention provides a method for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images. During or after recording, the method can evaluate the clarity of each frame and filter out parts of the image with poor quality, thereby assisting in improving the recognition of vascular areas and the accuracy of calculation results. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0030] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of a method for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images according to the present invention;

[0031] Figure 2 This is a flow chart of another embodiment of a method for evaluating microcirculation image clarity according to the present invention;

[0032] Figure 3 This is a specific method for rating a frame of microcirculation image according to the sharpness of the edge of the blood vessel region in a microcirculation image clarity evaluation method of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of blood vessel edges with continuous edge pixel length exceeding 70px screened out from a frame of microcirculation image according to the present invention;

[0034] Figure 5 for Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the blood vessel edge after skeletonization;

[0035] Figure 6 This is a schematic structural diagram of a microcirculation image clarity evaluation device according to the present invention;

[0036] Figure 7 The figure is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solutions of the present invention, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0038] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the description and claims of the present invention and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the numbers used in this way can be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0039] Please refer to the attached Figure 1 -Attached Figure 7 In a first aspect of the present invention, a method for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images is proposed. Figure 1 As shown, the following steps are included:

[0040] Step S1: Acquire a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity;

[0041] Microcirculation is the blood circulation in the capillaries between arterioles and venules, and is the most basic structural and functional unit of the circulatory system. It includes the circulation of body fluids within arterioles, venules, lymphatic capillaries, and tissue ducts. Images of the microcirculation can be captured by manually operating a handheld biomicroscope during monitoring.

[0042] Step S2: extracting the blood vessel region and the edge of the blood vessel region;

[0043] It should be noted that the specific method for extracting the blood vessel region and the edge of the blood vessel region belongs to the prior art, and those skilled in the art can refer to the prior art. The improvement of the present invention mainly lies in the contents of step S3 and step S4.

[0044] Step S3: Counting the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds a specified threshold;

[0045] It should be noted that the continuous edge pixel length refers to the length of an uninterrupted edge of a blood vessel region. In this embodiment, the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds a specified threshold is counted mainly to determine the vascular density of the microcirculation image frame. Microcirculation images with insufficient vascular density are of little significance for subsequent research.

[0046] Step S4: Evaluate the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results.

[0047] In this embodiment, the specific method for evaluating the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results includes:

[0048] If the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds the specified threshold does not reach the preset threshold, it means that the blood vessel density of the microcirculation image frame is insufficient, and the microcirculation image frame can be directly determined to be unclear and discarded.

[0049] Specifically, in a preferred embodiment of this embodiment, the designated threshold is 70px, and the preset threshold is 8. The designated threshold and the preset threshold are data derived from the inventors' years of experience and multiple experimental evaluations. Of course, those skilled in the art may also appropriately adjust the designated threshold and the preset threshold according to actual needs, and such adjustments are within the scope of protection of this embodiment.

[0050] It should be noted that px (pixel) is the smallest point in an image, and a bitmap is made up of these points.

[0051] like Figure 4 The figure shows the blood vessel edges with continuous edge pixel length exceeding 70px selected from one frame of microcirculation image. Figure 4 As can be seen from the figure, there are more than 8 blood vessel edges with continuous edge pixel length exceeding 70px in this frame of microcirculation image. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the blood vessel density of this frame of image is sufficient, and this frame of image can be retained for further clarity judgment.

[0052] In some embodiments of the present invention, Figure 2 As shown, after evaluating the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results in step S4, the following steps are further included:

[0053] If the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel lengths exceed the specified threshold reaches the preset threshold, step S5 is executed: the clarity of the microcirculation image frame is further rated.

[0054] Among them, rating refers to further classification of image clarity.

[0055] In this embodiment, the specific method for rating the clarity of the microcirculation image frame includes:

[0056] The frame of microcirculation image is rated according to the sharpness of the edge of the blood vessel region. The sharper the edge, the clearer the frame of microcirculation image. Therefore, the frame of microcirculation image can be further divided into clarity levels according to the sharpness of the edge of the blood vessel region.

[0057] Specifically, if Figure 3 As shown, the specific method for rating the microcirculation image frame according to the sharpness of the edge of the blood vessel region includes:

[0058] Step S51: skeletonizing the edge of the blood vessel region;

[0059] Step S52: accumulating pixels of the skeletonized microcirculation image to obtain a first cumulative value;

[0060] Step S53: accumulating pixels of the microcirculation image from which the edges of the blood vessel regions have been extracted but skeletonization has not been performed to obtain a second cumulative value, and performing a ratio operation on the second cumulative value and the first cumulative value;

[0061] The closer the ratio result of the ratio operation (the second cumulative value / the first cumulative value) is to 1, the sharper the edge is.

[0062] It should be noted that skeletonization involves removing points from the original microcirculatory image layer by layer while preserving the original shape until the image skeleton is obtained. The skeleton can be understood as the central axis of an object. For example, the skeleton of a rectangle is its longitudinal central axis; the skeleton of a square is its center point; the skeleton of a circle is its center point; the skeleton of a line is itself; and the skeleton of an isolated point is also itself.

[0063] Furthermore, the rating can be divided into high-quality clarity and medium-quality clarity. If the ratio result is between 1-1.3, the frame of microcirculation image is judged to be of high-quality clarity. If the ratio result is not between 1-1.3, the frame of microcirculation image is judged to be of medium-quality clarity.

[0064] like Figure 4 The image shows the blood vessel edges with continuous edge pixel length exceeding 70px, which were selected from one frame of microcirculation image. Figure 4is the vascular edge image of the microcirculation image before skeletonization, and Figure 5 for Figure 4 Vessel edge image of the microcirculation image after skeletonization.

[0065] The present invention evaluates and rates the clarity of microcirculation images based on the vascular density and vascular area edge sharpness in the microcirculation images. This can avoid the situation where only part of the image is in focus due to human jitter but is still judged as clear, and has high computational efficiency.

[0066] The present invention provides a method for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images. During or after recording, the method can evaluate the clarity of each frame and filter out parts of the image with poor quality, thereby assisting in improving the recognition of vascular areas and the accuracy of calculation results.

[0067] The second aspect of the present invention provides a device for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images. Figure 6 , is a structural schematic diagram of a microcirculation image clarity evaluation device provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, which corresponds to a microcirculation image clarity evaluation method provided in the aforementioned embodiment of the present invention. Since the microcirculation image clarity evaluation device provided in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention corresponds to the microcirculation image clarity evaluation method provided in the aforementioned embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the aforementioned microcirculation image clarity evaluation method is also applicable to the microcirculation image clarity evaluation device provided in this embodiment.

[0068] Specifically, the microcirculation image clarity evaluation device comprises:

[0069] An acquisition module 10 is used to acquire a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity;

[0070] An extraction module 20 is used to extract the blood vessel region and the edge of the blood vessel region;

[0071] A statistics module 30 is used to count the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds a specified threshold;

[0072] A first evaluation module 40 is used to evaluate the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results of the statistical module;

[0073] The rating module 50 is configured to rate the clarity of the microcirculation image frame when the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel lengths exceed a specified threshold reaches a preset threshold.

[0074] Specifically, the rating module includes:

[0075] a skeletonization processing unit, used for performing skeletonization processing on the edge of the blood vessel region;

[0076] a calculation unit, configured to accumulate pixels of the skeletonized microcirculation image to obtain a first cumulative value and to accumulate pixels of the microcirculation image from which edges of blood vessel regions have been extracted but which has not been skeletonized to obtain a second cumulative value;

[0077] The ratio operation unit is used to perform a ratio operation on the second accumulated value and the first accumulated value.

[0078] See also Figure 7 , an embodiment of the present invention also provides an electronic device and a computer-readable storage medium.

[0079] like Figure 7 FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device provided by one embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device of this embodiment includes a processor 11, a memory 12, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor 11. When the processor 11 executes the computer program, it implements the steps of the aforementioned embodiment of the method for evaluating microcirculation image clarity. Alternatively, when the processor 11 executes the computer program, it implements the functions of the modules / units described in the aforementioned device embodiments.

[0080] Exemplarily, the computer program may be divided into one or more modules / units, which are stored in the memory and executed by the processor 11 to implement the present invention. The one or more modules / units may be a series of computer program instruction segments capable of implementing specific functions, and the instruction segments are used to describe the execution process of the computer program in the electronic device.

[0081] The electronic device may include, but is not limited to, a processor and a memory. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the schematic diagram is merely an example of an electronic device and does not limit the electronic device. The electronic device may include more or fewer components than shown, or a combination of certain components, or different components. For example, the electronic device may also include input and output devices, network access devices, buses, etc.

[0082] The processor 11 may be a central processing unit (CPU), other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The processor is the control center of the electronic device and connects various parts of the entire electronic device using various interfaces and lines.

[0083] The memory 12 can be used to store the computer programs and / or modules. The processor implements various functions of the electronic device by running or executing the computer programs and / or modules stored in the memory and calling the data stored in the memory. The memory can mainly include a program storage area and a data storage area, wherein the program storage area can store an operating system 121, an application 122 required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.); the data storage area can store data created based on the use of the mobile phone (such as audio data, a phone book, etc.). In addition, the memory can include a high-speed random access memory and can also include a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk, a memory, a plug-in hard disk, a smart memory card (Smart Media Card, SMC), a secure digital (Secure Digital, SD) card, a flash card (Flash Card), at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage device.

[0084] Wherein, if the module / unit integrated in the electronic device is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the present invention implements all or part of the process in the above-mentioned embodiment method, and can also be completed by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program. The computer program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, it can implement the steps of the above-mentioned various method embodiments. Wherein, the computer program includes computer program code, and the computer program code can be in source code form, object code form, executable file or some intermediate form, etc. The computer-readable medium may include: any entity or device that can carry the computer program code, recording medium, USB flash drive, mobile hard disk, magnetic disk, optical disk, computer memory, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), electric carrier signal, telecommunication signal and software distribution medium, etc.

[0085] It should be noted that the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment. In addition, in the drawings of the device embodiments provided by the present invention, the connection relationship between the modules indicates that there is a communication connection between them, which may be specifically implemented as one or more communication buses or signal lines. A person of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement the present invention without inventive effort.

[0086] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0087] The above-described embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the various embodiments of the present application, and should all be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating the clarity of microcirculation images, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Acquire a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity and extract the blood vessel area and the edge of the blood vessel area; Count the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds the specified threshold; The clarity of the microcirculation image of this frame is evaluated based on the statistical results. The specific methods include: If the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds the specified threshold does not reach the preset threshold, the frame of microcirculation image can be directly determined to be unclear and discarded; If the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds the specified threshold reaches a preset threshold, the clarity of the microcirculation image frame is further rated. The specific method includes: The microcirculation image frame is rated based on the sharpness of the edge of the vascular region, including: skeletonizing the edge of the vascular region, accumulating pixels of the skeletonized microcirculation image to obtain a first cumulative value, accumulating pixels of the microcirculation image with the edge of the vascular region extracted but not skeletonized to obtain a second cumulative value, and performing a ratio operation on the second cumulative value with the first cumulative value. The sharper the edge, the clearer the microcirculation image frame.

2. A microcirculation image clarity evaluation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The specified threshold is 70px, and the preset threshold is 8.

3. A microcirculation image clarity evaluation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ratings are divided into high-quality clarity and medium-quality clarity. If the ratio result is between 1-1.3, it is judged as high-quality clarity. If the ratio result is not between 1-1.3, it is judged as medium-quality clarity.

4. A microcirculation image clarity evaluation device, characterized in that: A method for evaluating the clarity of a microcirculation image according to any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising: An acquisition module, used for acquiring a frame of microcirculation image to be evaluated for image clarity; An extraction module, used to extract the blood vessel area and the edge of the blood vessel area; A statistics module is used to count the number of edges whose continuous edge pixel length exceeds a specified threshold; The first evaluation module is used to evaluate the clarity of the microcirculation image frame according to the statistical results of the statistical module.

5. An electronic device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor, a memory, and a computer program stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, wherein when the processor executes the computer program, the method for evaluating the clarity of a microcirculation image according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is implemented.

6. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed, the device where the computer-readable storage medium is located is controlled to execute the microcirculation image clarity evaluation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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