Methods and apparatus for processing medical images
First Claim
1. A method of analysing an image of a brain by a computer device, the method comprising:
- receiving data defining a three-dimensional image of a brain;
comparing the received data with a brain atlas to generate a three-dimensional mapping between the image and the brain atlas by warping the brain atlas to the received data, thereby generating an individualized brain atlas;
using the mapping to annotate the received data; and
writing said annotated data as one or more data files;
wherein in writing said annotated data, the annotated data is written in Dicom, including one or more Dicom overlays or in a web-enabled format, with the received data and the individualized brain atlas saved separately as two corresponding images; and
wherein the annotated data is provided to compatible workstations for further processing by medical professionals.
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Abstract
A system for analysing a brain image compares the image with a brain atlas, labels the image accordingly, and annotating the regions of interest and/or other structures. This atlas-enhanced data is written to a file (or more than one file) in the Dicom format or any web-enabled format such as SGML or XML format. The image used may be produced by any medical imaging modality. A fast algorithm is proposed for a landmark-based piecewise linear mapping of one volumetric image into another volumetric image. Furthermore, a new set of brain landmarks are proposed, and algorithms for the automatic identification of these landmarks are formulated for three orientations, axial, coronal, and sagittal.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method of analysing an image of a brain by a computer device, the method comprising:
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receiving data defining a three-dimensional image of a brain; comparing the received data with a brain atlas to generate a three-dimensional mapping between the image and the brain atlas by warping the brain atlas to the received data, thereby generating an individualized brain atlas; using the mapping to annotate the received data; and writing said annotated data as one or more data files; wherein in writing said annotated data, the annotated data is written in Dicom, including one or more Dicom overlays or in a web-enabled format, with the received data and the individualized brain atlas saved separately as two corresponding images; and wherein the annotated data is provided to compatible workstations for further processing by medical professionals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 46)
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14. A method of mapping an image of a brain to an existing brain atlas by a computer device, the method comprising:
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(i) identifying a set of first features in said image corresponding to respective second features in said brain atlas; (ii) defining a first direction in said image, and a plurality of first planes in the image perpendicular to and spaced apart in said first direction, each first plane containing one or more of said first features, and corresponding to a respective second plane in the brain atlas containing the corresponding one or more second features; (iii) partitioning each first plane into rectangular sections based on said first features; (iv) for each first plane, applying a linear transformation to each section to transform its dimensions to be equal to those of a corresponding rectangular section of the corresponding second plane; and (v) defining a transformation of the spacing between said first plane which makes the spacing of the first planes equal to the spacing of the corresponding second planes; wherein the brain image is annotated using said mapping method and said annotated image is written in Dicom including one or more Dicom overlays, or in a web-enabled format, with the brain image and the brain atlas saved separately as two corresponding images; and wherein the annotated data is provided to compatible workstations for further processing by medical professionals. - View Dependent Claims (16, 44)
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15. A method of mapping an existing brain atlas to an image of the brain by a computer device, the method comprising the steps of:
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(i) identifying a set of first features in said brain atlas corresponding to respective second features in said image; (ii) defining a first direction in said brain atlas, and a plurality of first planes in the brain atlas perpendicular to and spaced apart in said first direction, each first plane containing one or more of said first features, and corresponding to a respective second plane in the image containing the corresponding one or more second features; (iii) partitioning each first plane into rectangular sections based on said first features; (iv) for each first plane, applying a linear transformation to each section to transform its dimensions to be equal to those of a corresponding rectangular section of the corresponding second plane; and (v) defining a transformation of the spacing between said first plane which makes the spacing of the first planes equal to the spacing of the corresponding second planes; wherein the brain image is annotated and an individualized brain atlas is generated using said mapping method and said annotated image is written in Dicom, including one or more Dicom overlays or in a web-enabled format, with the brain image and the individualized brain atlas saved separately as two corresponding images; and wherein the annotated data is provided to compatible workstations for further processing by medical professionals. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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17. A method of forming a mapping between a brain image and a brain atlas by a computer device, the method including:
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defining a plurality of landmarks in the image, said landmarks being calculated using peaks and valleys of a graph of the density profile of the image measured along a line and/or peaks and valleys of a projection along a specified direction; and forming said mapping based on the correspondence of the positions of said landmarks in the brain image with corresponding landmarks in the brain atlas. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 30, 42)
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Specification