METHOD AND IMAGE-PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR GENERATING A VOLUME-VIEWING IMAGE OF THE INTERIOR OF A BODY

• US 20110026795A1
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Sühling, Michael, Leber, Carlos
• Granted Patent: US 9,619,925 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/466 adapted to display 3D data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/08 Volume rendering

Abstract

A method for generating a volume-viewing image on the basis of three-dimensional image data of the interior of a body generated by way of a medical imaging system is described. In at least one embodiment, a plurality of different functional structures of the body are first of all segmented in the three-dimensional image data. Moreover, structure selection data for fixing functional structures to be visualized is determined. Then, at least one volume-viewing image is generated from the three-dimensional image data on the basis of the segmented functional structures and the structure selection data and the image is output. Moreover, in at least one embodiment, an image-processing system to carry out at least one embodiment of the method is described.

Claims

1. A method for generating a volume-viewing image based upon three-dimensional image data of an interior of a body generated by way of a medical imaging system, the method comprising:

segmenting a plurality of different functional structures of the body in the three-dimensional image data;

determining structure selection data for fixing functional structures to be visualized;

determining at least one volume-viewing image from the three-dimensional image data on the basis of the segmented functional structures and the structure selection data; and

outputting the determined at least one volume-viewing image.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the structure selection data comprises target-structure selection data for fixing a target structure.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in order to register structure selection data, activatable representation illustrations of the segmented structures are shown to an operator via a user interface.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in order to register target-structure selection data, a volume display of at least the functional structures to be visualized is shown to an operator on the basis of the three-dimensional image data, in which volume display the target structure is selectable via a graphical user interface.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein individual transfer functions are assigned to the segmented functional structures.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a viewpoint is determined automatically as a function of the structure selection data.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a viewpoint is determined automatically using at least one viewing sphere, in which a view quality value is coded in respect of at least one view-relevant parameter.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein, in order to determine a viewpoint, a plurality of viewing spheres are combined together for different view-relevant parameters.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the view-relevant parameters comprise at least one of the following parameters:

a defined preferred viewing direction,

a shape of a target structure,

a visibility of a focus or a defined point of interest in the target structure.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the visibility of the surface of the target structure is taken into account in the automatic determination of a viewpoint.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein starting from a fixed viewpoint, a clip plane is automatically fixed.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein, in order to fix the clip plane along a connection axis running from the viewpoint to a target point in the target structure, a plane intersection is fixed at a distance between a target structure surface and the viewpoint, and the clip plane is fixed such that it is orthogonal to the connection axis and the plane intersection is situated in the clip plane.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of structure selection data and individual transfer functions for at least one of functional structures and view-relevant parameters are assigned to various predefined scenarios.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one predefined scenario is automatically selected on the basis of at least one of patient-specific and examination-specific data.

18. A computer program product, loadable directly into a storage medium of an image-processing system, comprising program code segments for executing the method as claimed in claim 1 when the program product is executed on the image-processing system.

19. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in order to register structure selection data, activatable representation illustrations of the segmented structures are shown to an operator via a user interface.

20. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the view-relevant parameters comprise at least one of the following parameters:

a defined preferred viewing direction,

a shape of a target structure,

a visibility of a focus or a defined point of interest in the target structure.

21. A method, in combination with the method as claimed in claim 7, for generating a volume-viewing image onto a target structure on the basis of three-dimensional image data of the interior of a body generated by way of a medical imaging system, the method comprising:

determining a start viewpoint; and

determining a viewpoint in a region around the start viewpoint, taking into account visibility of a surface of the target structure.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein a number of candidate viewpoints are fixed in a region around the start viewpoint and search beams are analyzed for each candidate viewpoint, the search beams running from various surface points in a defined region of the surface of the target structure to the candidate viewpoints, and a viewpoint is selected from the candidate viewpoints on the basis of a result of the analysis.

23. A computer readable medium including program segments for, when executed on a computer device of an image-processing system, causing the computer device of the image-processing system to implement the method of claim 1.

25. A computer readable medium including program segments for, when executed on a computer device of an image-processing system, causing the computer device of the image-processing system to implement the method of claim 21.

11. A method for generating a volume-viewing image onto a target structure based upon three-dimensional image data of an interior of a body generated by way of a medical imaging system, the method comprising:

determining a start viewpoint; and

determining a viewpoint in a region around the start viewpoint, taking into account visibility of a surface of the target structure.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein a number of candidate viewpoints are fixed in a region around the start viewpoint and search beams are analyzed for each candidate viewpoint, the search beams running from various surface points in a defined region of the surface of the target structure to the candidate viewpoints, and a viewpoint is selected from the candidate viewpoints on the basis of a result of the analysis.

24. A computer readable medium including program segments for, when executed on a computer device of an image-processing system, causing the computer device of the image-processing system to implement the method of claim 11.

17. An image-processing system for generating a volume-viewing image on the basis of three-dimensional image data of an interior of a body generated by way of a medical imaging system, the image-processing system comprising:

an image data interface to receive the three-dimensional image data;

a segmentation arrangement to segment a plurality of different functional structures of the body in the three-dimensional image data;

a selection-data determination unit to determine structure selection data for fixing functional structures to be visualized;

an image determination unit to determine a volume-viewing image from the three-dimensional image data on the basis of the segmented functional structures and the structure selection data; and

an output interface to output the determined at least one volume-viewing image.