Curved Surface Region Designation for Medical Volume Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for visualizing internal body structures, such as blood vessels, using medical imaging technologies struggle to effectively display curved surfaces and complex regions of interest, particularly when they are not on flat planes, limiting observation and requiring labor-intensive user operations.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that allow for designating a region of interest by specifying multiple points on a volume-rendered image, generating a curved surface, and adding thickness to it, enabling the visualization of complex structures like blood vessels on a curved surface layer, using computer processing to connect designation points and generate a three-dimensional plotted region.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional MPR or CPR methods are used to visualize internal organs, then flat planes or single curved surfaces can be displayed, but complex curved surfaces with multiple curves (such as branching blood vessels) cannot be expressed, and user operations are required to specify surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically generates curved surfaces and extracts regions of interest without requiring user specification. The automated surface generation algorithm processes volume data to identify and display complex curved structures such as branching blood vessels, eliminating the need for manual surface specification while maintaining accurate visualization of anatomical features
2Area of stationary object
If slab MIP is used to observe subjects between two flat planes, then thick plane regions can be expressed, but the observation range is restricted to within a predetermined observable region
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the region of interest based on automatically extracted curved surfaces rather than using fixed planar regions. The curved surface extraction algorithm adapts to the three-dimensional geometry of internal organs, allowing observation of any region regardless of its shape or location, thereby expanding the observable region beyond predetermined planar constraints
3Quantity of substance
If CPR is used to generate curved sections, then a single curve can be displayed, but multiple curves (such as branching blood vessels) cannot be displayed simultaneously, and individual specification is required
Solution Approach 1:
The automated curved surface extraction algorithm simultaneously identifies and displays multiple curved structures such as branching blood vessels without requiring individual user specification. The system processes volume data to automatically segment and render multiple curves in a single view, reducing the complexity burden on the user while increasing the quantity of visible anatomical structures
Data Source
AI summary
A method for designating a region of interest from volume data of a subject. When a user clicks a mouse to specify designation points, a CPU generates a curved surface including the designation points. The CPU executes a hidden surface removal process on the curved surface to generate a plotted region, sets a thickness for the plotted region, and determines the region of interest. The CPU performs MIP processing on the region of interest and a region of interest re-designating process on the MIP image. In the region of interest re-designating process, the user clicks the mouse on the MIP image, and the CPU determines the MIP position of the clicked position. The CPU sets the MIP position as a new designation point, and re-specifies a new region of interest by performing a region of interest designating process based on the new designation point.