Automated method and system for the delineation of the chest wall in computed tomography scans for the assessment of pleural disease
First Claim
1. A method for determining an extent of at least one of a pleural space and a pleural thickening, comprising:
- obtaining an image including at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening;
segmenting at least one lung in the obtained image;
obtaining an initial endpoint on one of a chest wall and a mediastinum boundary;
determining a terminal endpoint on a boundary of the at least one segmented lung; and
determining a distance between said initial endpoint and said terminal endpoint as the extent of the at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method, system, and computer program product for automated and semi-automated measurements of pleural space and/or pleural thickening in thoracic CT images to identify the presence and quantify the extent of pleura-based disease, including obtaining a CT image including the pleural space and/or the pleural thickening, segmenting lungs in the obtained image, obtaining an initial endpoint on a chest wall or a mediastinum boundary; determining a terminal endpoint on a boundary of the at least one segmented lung; and determining a distance between said initial endpoint and said the terminal endpoint as the extent of the pleural space and/or the pleural thickening. Exemplary embodiments include determining the extent of pleural space and/or pleural thickening based on linear distance, area, and volume of the space between the lung boundary and at least one of the chest wall and the mediastinum boundary. These pleural determinations may be used to quantify the extent of disease in a particular case as additional information to be incorporated into a radiologist'"'"'s decision-making process, or as part of a computer-aided diagnostic scheme that alerts radiologists of the potential for pleural disease in the case.
-
Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A method for determining an extent of at least one of a pleural space and a pleural thickening, comprising:
-
obtaining an image including at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening;
segmenting at least one lung in the obtained image;
obtaining an initial endpoint on one of a chest wall and a mediastinum boundary;
determining a terminal endpoint on a boundary of the at least one segmented lung; and
determining a distance between said initial endpoint and said terminal endpoint as the extent of the at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
9. A method for determining an extent of at least one of a pleural space and a pleural thickening, comprising:
-
obtaining an image including at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening;
segmenting at least one lung in the obtained image;
selecting at least two pixels, each of the two pixels being on one of a chest wall and a mediastinum boundary;
determining a contour passing through the at least two pixels; and
calculating an area between a boundary of the at least one segmented lung and the contour as the extent of the at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening. - View Dependent Claims (10, 14)
-
-
11. A method for determining an extent of at least one of a pleural space and a pleural thickening, comprising the steps of:
-
obtaining an image including at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening;
segmenting lungs in the obtained image;
constructing a chest wall image from the obtained image using a lung boundary obtained in the segmenting step and a series of normal rays extending away from the lung boundary;
identifying ribs in the chest wall image;
mapping a location of the identified ribs back into the obtained image; and
determining in the obtained image the extent of the at least one of the pleural space and the pleural thickening between the identified ribs mapped back to the obtained image and at least one segmented lung. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
Specification