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Method for determining the contour of an in vivo organ using multiple image frames of the organ

  • US 5,734,739 A
  • Filed: 08/26/1996
  • Issued: 03/31/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method for automatically determining a contour of an internal organ in a patient based upon digital image data of a region in which the organ is disposed, said image data representing a sequence of image frames of the region made over an interval of time during which a wall of the organ has completed at least one cycle of movement, the wall of the organ undergoing repetitive cycles of movement as part of the organ'"'"'s physiological function, each image frame of said sequence of image frames comprising a plurality of pixels, said method comprising the steps of:

  • (a) developing an initial estimate of a region bounded by the contour of the organ in each image frame of the sequence, by comparing the image data with parameters derived from training data that were previously produced through manual evaluation of a plurality of image frames over a corresponding cycle for each of a plurality of corresponding organs in other individuals, said parameters that are derived from the training data being used to assign classes to the pixels comprising each of the image frames of the sequence, said classes indicating pixels that are most likely inside the contour of the organ in each image frame; and

    (b) determining a border of the organ in a portion of the contour adjacent to a tissue mass lying outside the organ, by masking out the tissue mass, thereby refining the initial estimate of the region bounded by the contour of the organ so that the border of the organ is more accurately defined in said portion of the contour.

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