System and method for performing a three-dimensional examination with collapse correction

• US 6,514,082 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2001
• Issued: 02/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (State University of New York)
• Original Assignee: The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (State University of New York)
• Inventors: Liang, Zhengrong, Wax, Mark R., Kaufman, Arie E., Wan, Ming, Chen, Dongquing
• Primary Examiner(s): Rovnak, John Edmund
• Application Number:
  US09/974,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20020039400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 434/262, 434/267, 434/272, 345/112, 345/418, 345/419, 345/420, 345/424, 345/426, 345/473, 345/474, 345/952, 345/959
• US Class Current: 434/262
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/04 Texture mapping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/08 Volume rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20156 Automatic seed setting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30032 Colon polyp
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/28 Force feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/41 Medical
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2021 Shape modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/147 Details of sensors, e.g. sensor lenses fingerprint or palmprint sensors G06V40/13; vascular sensors G06V40/145; eye sensors G06V40/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/28 Quantising the image, e.g. histogram thresholding for discrimination between background and foreground patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/03 Recognition of patterns in medical or anatomical images

Abstract

A system and method for generating a three-dimensional visualization image of an object such as an organ using volume visualization techniques and exploring the image using a guided navigation system which allows the operator to travel along a flight path and to adjust the view to a particular portion of the image of interest in order, for example, to identify polyps, cysts or other abnormal features in the visualized organ. An electronic biopsy can also be performed on an identified growth or mass in the visualized object. Virtual colonoscopy can be enhanced by electronically removing residual stool, fluid and non-colonic tissue from the image of the colon, by employing bowel preparation followed by image segmentation operations. Methods are also employed for virtually expanding regions of colon collapse using image segmentation results.

Claims

1. A system for performing virtual colonoscopy comprising:

an imaging scanner for acquiring image data of a colon;

a processor, said processor receiving the image data and identifying the interior of the colon, generating a centerline for navigating through the interior of the colon, detecting a collapsed region of the interior of the colon, and extending the centerline through the collapsed region;

a display unit operatively coupled to the processor for displaying a representation of the colon.

2. The system for performing virtual colonoscopy according to claim 1, wherein the processor detects the collapsed region by calculating entropy values for the intensity values of the image data proximate the centerline and identifying at least one of the entropy values being above a threshold value.

3. The system for performing virtual colonoscopy according to claim 1, wherein the processor virtually expands a detected collapsed region of the colon in accordance with properties of the colon wall.