Parallel Planar Caliper for CT Colonography Polyp Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for measuring polyp size in CT colonography images, both manual and automatic, often fail to accurately visualize the relationship between the measurement and the object, leading to less precise size determination.
Innovation Solution
A system that deploys a caliper with two parallel planar surfaces in the image data space, allowing users to rotate, translate, and scale the caliper to accurately measure object size by determining the distance between the surfaces, improving visualization and accuracy of measurements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a line segment or floating point measurement is used to visualize polyp size, then the measurement can be computed automatically or manually, but the relationship between the measurement and the measured object is not clearly shown
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from 1D line segment measurements to 2D planar surface measurements. The caliper is visualized as two parallel planar surfaces that enclose the polyp, providing a二维 view of the measurement that clearly shows the relationship between the measurement and the measured object. This dimensional change allows the measurement to be both computable and visually informative.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a visual copy of the measurement concept by representing the caliper as two parallel planar surfaces that mirror each other. This copying approach allows the measurement to be visualized in a way that intuitively represents the distance between the two surfaces, making the relationship between measurement and object clear without losing computational accuracy.
2Ease of operation
If manual measurement techniques are used to measure polyp size, then the measurement process is simple to perform, but the measured size may be less accurate
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows users to perform measurements themselves using the caliper tool with parallel planar surfaces, making the measurement process intuitive and easy to operate. The visual representation of the caliper as two enclosing planes guides the user to properly position the measurement, improving both ease of operation and measurement accuracy simultaneously.
3Loss of information
If a caliper with parallel planar surfaces is deployed to measure object size, then the visualization of measurement relationship is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The caliper with parallel planar surfaces serves multiple functions: it provides accurate distance measurement, clearly visualizes the measurement relationship, and can be manipulated in 3D space (rotated, translated, scaled). This multi-functionality justifies the increased structural complexity by delivering multiple benefits from a single tool.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a system (300) for performing and visualizing a measurement of an object viewed in an image computed from image data, the system comprising an image unit (310) for visualizing the image data in the image for displaying in a display, a deployment unit (320) for deploying a caliper (21; 22; 23; 24) in an image data space based on the location of the object in the image data space, and a caliper unit (330) for visualizing the caliper (21; 22; 23; 24) in the image, wherein the caliper (21; 22; 23; 24) comprises a first planar surface (211) and a second planar surface (212) substantially parallel to the first planar surface (211), and wherein the measurement of the object is determined based on the distance between the planes of the first and second planar surface. Viewing the first and second planar surfaces of the caliper, visualized together with the measured object, improves the visualization of the measurement of an anatomical or pathological structure, because the first and second planar surface help a user to relate the measurement to the object - to see what is being measured. Advantageously, in an embodiment of the system (300), manually aligning the first and second planar surface with the object may also improve capturing the size of the object, because the system makes the measurement both easier to obtain and more accurate.