System and methods of organ segmentation and applications of same
First Claim
1. A method for segmentation of an organ of a living subject with a variable shape and boundary and surrounded by structures and tissues in connection with an image containing the organ, wherein the boundary of the organ is embedded as a zero level set of an embedding function, Φ
- , comprising the steps of;
a. initializing a contour inside the organ in the image;
b. introducing a speed function that is capable of accumulating spatial and temporal information of a propagating front of the contour, wherein the speed function has a term, g0;
c. defining an image-dependent static term, gbase;
d. setting the term g0=gbase;
e. computing {(x,y,z)|Φ
(x,y,z)=0} at iteration n, so as to obtain a set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
, wherein n=1, 2, 3, . . . , and coordinates (x, y, z) represent a point on the propagating front of the contour;
f. retrieving the static term gbase(x, y, z) for each of the set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
;
g. extending the retrieved static term gbase(x, y, z) to a narrow band in which the embedding function Φ
is computed so as to generate an extended term gext;
h. updating the term g0=g0gext so as to update the speed function;
i. computing the embedding function Φ
at iteration (n+1) using the updated speed function; and
j. iteratively repeating steps (e)-(i) by a computer for a predetermined number of iterations or until the propagating front of the contour does not move,wherein the front of the contour corresponds to the boundary of the organ.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for segmentation of an organ of a living subject with a variable shape and boundary and surrounded by structures and tissues in connection with an image containing the organ. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of initializing a contour inside the organ in the image, introducing a speed function that is capable of accumulating spatial and temporal information of a propagating front of the contour, and evolving the contour toward the boundary of the organ using the introduced speed function so as to segment the organ.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A method for segmentation of an organ of a living subject with a variable shape and boundary and surrounded by structures and tissues in connection with an image containing the organ, wherein the boundary of the organ is embedded as a zero level set of an embedding function, Φ
- , comprising the steps of;
a. initializing a contour inside the organ in the image; b. introducing a speed function that is capable of accumulating spatial and temporal information of a propagating front of the contour, wherein the speed function has a term, g0; c. defining an image-dependent static term, gbase; d. setting the term g0=gbase; e. computing {(x,y,z)|Φ
(x,y,z)=0} at iteration n, so as to obtain a set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
, wherein n=1, 2, 3, . . . , and coordinates (x, y, z) represent a point on the propagating front of the contour;f. retrieving the static term gbase(x, y, z) for each of the set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
;g. extending the retrieved static term gbase(x, y, z) to a narrow band in which the embedding function Φ
is computed so as to generate an extended term gext;h. updating the term g0=g0gext so as to update the speed function; i. computing the embedding function Φ
at iteration (n+1) using the updated speed function; andj. iteratively repeating steps (e)-(i) by a computer for a predetermined number of iterations or until the propagating front of the contour does not move, wherein the front of the contour corresponds to the boundary of the organ. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- , comprising the steps of;
-
19. Software stored on a computer readable medium for causing a computing system to perform functions that segment a region of interest of an organ in an image comprising:
-
a. initializing a contour inside the region of interest in the image; b. introducing a speed function that is capable of accumulating spatial and temporal information of a propagating front of the contour, wherein the speed function has a term, g0; c. defining an image-dependent static term, gbase; d. setting the term g0=gbase; e. computing {(x,y,z)|Φ
(x,y,z)=0} at iteration n, so as to obtain a set of points in the zero level set of an embedding function Φ
, wherein n=1, 2, 3, . . . , and coordinates (x,y,z) represent a point on the propagating front of the contour;f. retrieving the static term gbase(x,y,z) for each of the set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
;g. extending the retrieved static term gbase(x,y,z) to a narrow band in which the embedding function Φ
is computed so as to generate an extended term gext;h. updating the term g0=g0gext so as to update the speed function; i. computing the embedding function Φ
at iteration (n+1) using the updated speed function; andj. iteratively repeating steps (e)-(i) for a predetermined number of iterations or until the propagating front of the contour does not move, wherein the front of the contour corresponds to the boundary of the region of interest of an organ. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
-
-
22. Software stored on a computer readable medium for causing a computing system to perform functions that segment a region of interest of an organ in an image comprising:
-
a. initializing a contour inside the region of interest in the image; b. introducing a speed function that is capable of accumulating spatial and temporal information of a propagating front of the contour; and c. evolving the contour toward the boundary of the organ using the introduced speed function so as to segment the organ, wherein the boundary of the organ is embedded as a zero level set of an embedding function, Φ
, governed by a level set equation;wherein the evolving function comprises; d. defining an image-dependent static term, gbase; e. setting g0=gbase, wherein g0 is a term used in the speed function; f. computing {(x,y,z)|Φ
(x,y,z)=0} at iteration n, so as to obtain a set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
, wherein n=1, 2, 3, . . . , and coordinates (x, y, z) represent a point on the propagating front of the contour;g. retrieving the static term gbase(x,y,z) for each of the set of points in the zero level set of the embedding function Φ
;h. extending the retrieved static term gbase(x , y, Z) to a narrow band in which the embedding function Φ
is computed so as to generate an extended term gext;i. updating the term g0=g0gext so as to update the speed function; j. computing the embedding function Φ
, at iteration (n+1) using the updated speed function; andk. iteratively repeating steps (c)-(g) for a predetermined number of iterations or until the propagating front of the contour does not move. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
Specification