PROCESSING AND DISPLAYING A BREAST IMAGE

• US 20150003702A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Serlie, Iwo Willem Oscar, Martherus, Rudolph
• Granted Patent: US 9,311,717 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/502 for diagnosis of breast, i.e. mammography
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10116 X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20124 Active shape model [ASM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30068 Mammography; Breast
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/12 Edge-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A system for processing a breast image is described. A glandular tissue contour detector (1) is arranged for detecting a contour (407) of a glandular tissue (303) represented in the breast image (310), the glandular tissue detector (1) detecting the contour of a region within the image that comprises the mammary glands of a breast (301) represented in the breast image (310).The glandular tissue contour detector (1) comprises a concave hull determiner (2) for determining a concave hull of the region to obtain the contour (407).A display unit (3) is arranged for displaying the breast image (310) with the contour (407) superimposed.

Claims

1. A system for processing a breast image, comprising

a glandular tissue contour detector for detecting a contour of a glandular tissue represented in the breast image, the grandular tissue contour detector comprising:

a concave hull determiner for determining a concave hull of a region in the breast image comprising the mammary glands of a breast so as to obtain the contour.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the glandular tissue detector is arranged for detecting the contour of a region within the image that comprises the mammary glands of a breast represented in the breast image.

4. The system according to claim 1, comprising a display unit for displaying the breast image with the contour superimposed.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the display unit arranged for displaying a first breast image with the contour of the glandular tissue represented in the first breast image superimposed, and a second breast image with the contour of the glandular tissue represented in the second breast image superimposed.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the first breast image and the second breast image are displayed simultaneously one beside the other, or sequentially.

7. The system according to claim 4, comprising an aligner for panning and/or zooming the breast image to align the contour within a predetermined area of the display.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the aligner is arranged for vertically aligning the breast image to fit the contour within a predetermined horizontal strip of the display.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the display comprises a first display area and a second display area, wherein the horizontal strip intersects both display areas, wherein a first breast image is displayed in the first display area and the second breast image is displayed in the second display area, and wherein the aligner is arranged for vertically aligning the first breast image to fit the contour of the glandular tissue represented in the first breast image within the horizontal strip, and vertically aligning the second breast image to fit the contour of the glandular tissue represented in the second breast image within the horizontal strip.

10. The system according to claim 4, further comprising a viewing parameter determiner for determining a viewing parameter for displaying the breast image, based on image content of a region of the breast image enclosed by the contour.

11. A workstation comprising the system according to claim 1.

12. An imaging apparatus comprising the system according to claim 1.

14. A computer program product comprising instructions arranged for causing a processor system to perform the method according to claim 12.

3. (canceled)

13. A method of processing a breast image, comprising detecting a contour of a glandular tissue represented in the breast image including:

determining a concave hull of a region within the image that comprises the mammary glands of a breast represented in the breast image so as to obtain the contour.