Method for the detection and automatic characterization of nodules in a tomographic image and a system of medical imaging by tomodensimetry
First Claim
1. Method of automatic detection and characterization of nodules (N) in a tomographic image of an anatomical zone of a patient, comprising a segmentation of the image for identifying therein a region of interest (N, V) by determining a contour in three dimensions using water separation lines of luminance gradient data of the image to determine a discontinuity of luminance in the data, and the processing of the segmented image for identifying the nodule (N), wherein during the step of processing, an ellipsoid inscribed within the region of interest is modeled, it is decided that the image elements inscribed within this ellipsoid correspond to a nodule and, for each zone of the region of interest extending outside the ellipsoid, the image elements are identified which do not belong to the nodule, according to criteria of mathematical morphology.
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Abstract
For the automatic detection and characterization of nodules in a tomographic image of an anatomical zone of a patient, the image is segmented for identifying therein a region of interest, and the segmented image is processed for identifying the nodule.
During the processing step, an ellipsoid inscribed in the region of interest is modeled for deciding whether the image elements inscribed in this ellipsoid correspond to a nodule, and, for each zone of the region of interest extending beyond the ellipsoid, the image elements are identified which do not belong to the module according to mathematical morphologic criteria.
39 Citations
31 Claims
- 1. Method of automatic detection and characterization of nodules (N) in a tomographic image of an anatomical zone of a patient, comprising a segmentation of the image for identifying therein a region of interest (N, V) by determining a contour in three dimensions using water separation lines of luminance gradient data of the image to determine a discontinuity of luminance in the data, and the processing of the segmented image for identifying the nodule (N), wherein during the step of processing, an ellipsoid inscribed within the region of interest is modeled, it is decided that the image elements inscribed within this ellipsoid correspond to a nodule and, for each zone of the region of interest extending outside the ellipsoid, the image elements are identified which do not belong to the nodule, according to criteria of mathematical morphology.
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15. Computer program loaded into the internal memory of a calculator, wherein said computer program includes at least one code segment configured to instruct the calculator to identify a region of interest (N,V) in a segmentation of a tomographic image of an anatomical zone of a patient by:
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determining a contour in three dimensions using water separation lines of luminance gradient data of the image to determine a discontinuity of luminance in the data; modeling an ellipsoid inscribed within the region of interest, wherein image elements inscribed within this ellipsoid correspond to a nodule; and identifying for each zone of the region of interest extending outside the ellipsoid, the image elements which do not belong to the nodule, according to criteria of mathematical morphology.
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16. Tomodensimetric medical imaging system, comprising an x-ray emitter (16), corresponding detection means (18) capable of measuring differences of absorption density of x-rays by the tissues of an anatomical zone examined, and a calculator (20) for processing signals output from the detection means (18) for producing an image of the said anatomical zone, the calculator (20) comprising image segmentation means (28) for identifying a region of interest in the said image by determining a contour in three dimensions using water separation lines of luminance gradient data of the image to determine a discontinuity of luminance in the data, and means (30, 32, 34, 36) for processing the segmented image for the identification of nodules present therein, wherein the calculator (20) furthermore comprises means (30) for modeling an ellipsoid inscribed within the region of interest for deciding that the image elements inscribed in this ellipsoid correspond to a nodule, and means (32, 34) for analysis by mathematical morphology for identifying, in each zone of the region of interest extending outside the ellipsoid, the image elements not belonging to the nodule.
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17. A method of automatic analysis of nodules in a tomographic image of an object comprising:
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identifying a suspect zone that includes a nodule; extracting a sub volume of the 3D image that includes the nodule; identifying a region of interest in the sub volume by determining a contour in three dimensions using an extraction of water separation lines of luminance gradient data of the image to determine a discontinuity of luminance in the data; identifying the nodule type wherein the type includes at least one of a well-circumscribed nodule, a vascularized nodule, and a pleural nodule; segmenting the nodule based on its type; and displaying the segmented nodule. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification