Medical image processing apparatus and medical image processing method

• US 8,649,584 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2011
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kawasaki, Tomohiro
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, UTPAL D
• Application Number:
  US13/227,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20120063663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: 382/128, 382130-132
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/507 for determination of haemodynamic parameters, e.g. perfusion CT
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20036 Morphological image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0014 using an image reference approach

Abstract

A medical image processing apparatus includes a vessel running data generating unit, a lesion site detecting unit, a vessel dominant region data generating unit, a lesion site dominant region data generating unit, and a diagnostic image data generating unit. The vessel running data generating unit generates vessel running data of a vessel. The lesion site detecting unit detects positional information of a lesion site in the vessel. The vessel dominant region data generating unit generates vessel dominant region data indicating a region dominated by the vessel in a region provided with nutrition. The lesion site dominant region data generating unit generates lesion site dominant region data indicating a region dominated by the lesion site in the region provided with nutrition. The diagnostic image data generating unit generates diagnostic image data by superimposing the vessel dominant region data and the lesion site dominant region data on morphological image data.

Claims

1. A medical image processing apparatus comprising:

a vessel running data generator configured to generate vessel running data of a vessel based on volume data collected by a medical image diagnosis apparatus;

a lesion site detector configured to detect positional information of a lesion site in the vessel based on the volume data;

a vessel dominant region data generator configured to generate vessel dominant region data indicating a region dominated by the vessel in a region provided with nutrition based on the vessel running data;

a lesion site dominant region data generator configured to generate lesion site dominant region data indicating a region dominated by the lesion site in the region provided with nutrition based on the vessel running data and the positional information of the lesion site;

an ischemic region data generator configured to generate ischemic region data indicating an ischemic region in the region provided with nutrition based on the functional image data; and

a diagnostic image data generator configured to generate diagnostic image data by superimposing the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data on morphological image data or functional image data generated based on the volume data.

2. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the vessel is a coronary artery, and the region provided with nutrition is a myocardial region.

3. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the vessel dominant region data generator generates the vessel dominant region data by performing a dilation process on the region provided with nutrition from reference points set at a predetermined interval on the vessel running data.

4. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

wherein the vessel dominant region data generator generates the vessel dominant region data by forming a plurality of segment dominant regions in the region provided with nutrition by the dilation process from each of the reference points and synthesizing the plurality of segment dominant regions.

5. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the lesion site dominant region data generator extracts a reference point corresponding to the lesion site and a plurality of reference points existing on a downstream side of the reference point from the plurality of reference points set on the vessel running data, and generates the lesion site dominant region data based on segment dominant regions formed with respect to the reference points by the vessel dominant region data generator.

6. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a morphological image data generator configured to generate the morphological image data, wherein

the morphological image data generator generates at least one of three-dimensional image data and MPR (Multi Planner Reconstruction) image data including the lesion site as the morphological image data based on the volume data.

7. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a functional image data generator configured to generate the functional image data, wherein

the functional image data generator generates perfusion image data as the functional image data based on the volume data.

8. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the ischemic region data generator generates the ischemic region data by comparing a voxel value or a pixel value of perfusion image data generated based on the volume data with a predetermined threshold value and thereby extracting the ischemic region in the perfusion image data.

9. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the diagnostic image data generator generates three-dimensional diagnostic image data based on the morphological image data or the functional image data, the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data which are generated in three dimensions based on the volume data.

10. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a lesion degree detector configured to measure a lesion degree of the lesion site, wherein

the diagnostic image data generator generates the diagnostic image data by adding the measured lesion degree to the morphological image data or the functional image data on which the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data are superimposed.

11. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

a calculator configured to compute an overlapping rate of the lesion site dominant region in the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region in the ischemic region data, wherein

the diagnostic image data generator generates the diagnostic image data by adding the measured lesion degree and the computed overlapping rate to the morphological image data or the functional image data on which the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data are superimposed.

12. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

an involvement rate calculator configured to compute an ischemia involvement rate based on the lesion degree, the ischemic region data, and the lesion site dominant region data, wherein

the diagnostic image data generator generates the diagnostic image data by adding the measured lesion degree, the computed overlapping rate and the computed ischemia involvement rate to the morphological image data or the functional image data on which the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data are superimposed.

13. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein

the involvement rate calculator computes the overlapping rate of the lesion site dominant region in the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region in the ischemic region data, and computes the ischemia involvement rate based on the overlapping rate and the lesion degree such as a stenosis rate of the lesion site measured by the lesion degree detector.

14. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a display controller configured to display the diagnostic image data on a display device, wherein

the display controller emphasizes the lesion site or the lesion site dominant region according to the computed ischemia involvement rate.

15. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a display controller configured to display the diagnostic image data on a display device, wherein

the display controller control unit displays the diagnostic image data as a Polar-Map image having a polar coordinate system.

16. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a stenosis site selector configured to select a stenosis site as the lesion site, wherein

the diagnostic image data generator generates the diagnostic image data by using MPR image data generated by the morphological image data generator with respect to the stenosis site selected by the stenosis site selector.

17. A medical image processing method comprising:

obtaining volume data collected by a medical image diagnosis apparatus from a storing unit;

generating vessel running data of a vessel based on the obtained volume data;

detecting positional information of a lesion site in the vessel based on the volume data;

generating vessel dominant region data indicating a region dominated by the vessel in a region provided with nutrition based on the vessel running data;

generating lesion site dominant region data indicating a region dominated by the lesion site in the region provided with nutrition based on the vessel running data and the positional information of the lesion site;

generating diagnostic image data by superimposing the vessel dominant region data and the lesion site dominant region data on morphological image data or functional image data generated based on the volume data;

generating ischemic region data indicating an ischemic region in the region provided with nutrition based on the functional image data, wherein the diagnostic image data generating generates the diagnostic image data by superimposing the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data on the morphological image data or the functional image data; and

displaying the diagnostic image data on the display unit.

18. The medical image processing method according to claim 17, further comprising:

measuring a lesion degree of the lesion site, wherein

the diagnostic image data generating generates the diagnostic image data by adding the measured lesion degree to the morphological image data or the functional image data on which the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data are superimposed.

19. The medical image processing method according to claim 18, further comprising:

computing an overlapping rate of the lesion site dominant region in the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region in the ischemic region data, wherein

the diagnostic image data generating generates the diagnostic image data by adding the measured lesion degree and the computed overlapping rate to the morphological image data or the functional image data on which the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data are superimposed.

20. The medical image processing method according to claim 19, further comprising:

computing an ischemia involvement rate based on the lesion degree, the ischemic region data, and the lesion site dominant region data, wherein

the diagnostic image data generating generates the diagnostic image data by adding the measured lesion degree, the computed overlapping rate and the computed ischemia involvement rate to the morphological image data or the functional image data on which the vessel dominant region data, the lesion site dominant region data and the ischemic region data are superimposed.