Organ Isolation in Scan Data Using Threshold Masks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical imaging scans, such as MRI and CT scans, face challenges in detecting organs like the pancreas due to its position within the body and the homogeneity of surrounding tissue, making it difficult for radiologists to reliably find and isolate the organ boundaries in a timely manner.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that analyze scan data by forming masks based on threshold values, dilating and processing connected regions to isolate the organ of interest, and projecting data onto planes to generate images that enhance organ visibility, using techniques like morphological operations and weighted statistics to create clearer images and videos.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a radiologist manually searches for organs in medical imaging scans, then the organ can be identified, but the process is time-consuming and difficult to perform reliably
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical search process with an automated image processing system that uses thresholding, morphological operations, and connected component analysis to automatically identify and isolate organs in medical scans, eliminating the time-consuming manual search while maintaining or improving identification reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary image processing operations including thresholding to create initial masks, morphological dilation to expand organ boundaries, and connected component analysis to separate the organ from surrounding tissue before final display, preparing the image in advance to make organ identification immediate and reliable
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the pancreas is located deep within the body surrounded by homogeneous tissue, then the organ is protected, but it becomes difficult to detect the organ boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by using thresholding to selectively highlight pixels within the organ's intensity range, and morphological operations to enhance local boundary features, making the organ boundaries visually distinct from the homogeneous surrounding tissue without altering the overall image structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies pseudocolor mapping to the isolated organ regions, assigning different colors to represent different tissue intensities or characteristics, which enhances the visual contrast between the organ and surrounding tissue, making boundary detection significantly easier
Data Source
AI summary
A method for analyzing scan data. In some embodiments, the method includes forming, from a first scan data array, a first mask, each element of the first mask being one or zero according to whether the corresponding element of the first scan data array exceeds a first threshold; forming, from the first scan data array, a second mask, each element of the second mask having a value of one or zero according to whether the corresponding element of the first scan data array exceeds a second threshold, the second threshold being less than the first threshold; and forming a fourth mask, the fourth mask being the element-wise product of the second mask and a third mask, the third mask being based on the first mask.