Medical image processing apparatus, medical image processing method, and medical imaging device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016292853-A1
Application number	US-201615086759-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2016
Priority date	Apr 3, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A medical image processing apparatus according to an embodiment includes a reception unit and a detection unit. The reception unit is configured to receive two points specified on at least one sagittal image. The detection unit is configured to detect an intervertebral disc by evaluating a luminance distribution within a region that includes the two points.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A medical image processing apparatus, comprising:
reception circuitry configured to receive two points specified on at least one image; and detection circuitry configured to detect an intervertebral disc by evaluating a luminance distribution within a region that includes the two points.

2 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
first determination circuitry configured to determine a first spine region of interest by performing, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest using a first method; second determination circuitry configured to determine a second spine region of interest by performing, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest using a second method; third determination circuitry configured to determine a third spine region of interest by performing, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest using a third method; and fourth determination circuitry configured to determine a fourth spine region of interest by performing, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest by taking the two points as reference boundary positions, wherein the detection circuitry detects a group of intervertebral discs in each of the first to the third spine regions of interest, and detects a group of intervertebral discs by evaluating a luminance distribution within a region that is in the fourth spine region of interest and that includes the two points, and the medical image processing apparatus further comprises: intervertebral disc selection circuitry configured to select one of the groups of intervertebral discs detected by the detection circuitry and best meeting a predetermined evaluation standard as an intervertebral disc detection result.

3 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the fourth determination circuitry comprises:
first initial detection circuitry configured to detect an intervertebral disc from the position of one of the two points; first iterative detection circuitry configured to iteratively detect a next intervertebral disc towards the direction of the other one of the two points until the other point is covered by the intervertebral disc detected or by the surrounding areas of the intervertebral disc detected; and spine region of interest determination circuitry configured to determine the fourth spine region of interest by taking the first intervertebral disc detected and the last intervertebral disc detected as boundaries.

4 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the first determination circuitry estimates an intervertebral disc in the image according to angular limitations to intervertebral discs and determines the first spine region of interest in the image using vertical projection of the estimated intervertebral disc; the second determination circuitry determines the second spine region of interest by adjusting the first spine region of interest according to a position relationship between predetermined parts of the first spine region of interest; and the third determination circuitry detects a spinal canal in the image and determines the third spine region of interest in the image based on the detected spinal canal a position relationship between an intervertebral disc and a spinal canal.

5 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the detection circuitry comprises:
second initial detection circuitry configured to detect an intervertebral disc starting from the central part of each of the first to fourth spine regions of interest; and second iterative detection circuitry configured to iteratively detect a next intervertebral disc separately towards two ends of each of the first to fourth spine regions of interest until each end is overlapped with the intervertebral disc detected or the surrounding areas of the intervertebral disc detected.

6 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
supplementary detection circuitry configured to detect, by taking the two points as reference boundary positions, a group of intervertebral discs in the image as the intervertebral disc detection result if no group of intervertebral discs meeting the predetermined evaluation standard is detected in any of the first to the fourth spine regions of interest.

7 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the supplementary detection circuitry comprises:
third initial detection circuitry configured to detect an intervertebral disc starting from the position of one of the two points; and third iterative detection circuitry configured to iteratively detect a next intervertebral disc towards the direction of the other one of the two points until the other point is covered by the intervertebral disc detected or by the surrounding areas of the intervertebral disc detected.

8 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the first iterative detection circuitry iteratively detects the next intervertebral disc according to position information and form information of an intervertebral disc detected.

9 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the second iterative detection circuitry iteratively detects the next intervertebral disc according to position information and form information of an intervertebral disc detected.

10 . The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the third iterative detection circuitry iteratively detects the next intervertebral disc according to position information and form information of an intervertebral disc detected.

11 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
optimization circuitry configured to optimize the intervertebral disc detection result, wherein the optimization circuitry comprises at least one of: insertion circuitry configured to insert an intervertebral disc the detection of which is missed into the intervertebral disc detection result; and deletion circuitry configured to delete an unneeded intervertebral disc from the intervertebral disc detection result.

12 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein
according to a distance between intervertebral discs, the insertion circuitry determines and inserts an intervertebral disc the detection f which is missed, and the deletion circuitry deletes an unneeded intervertebral disc according to a range defined by the two points.

13 . The medical image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
pre-processing circuitry configured to determine a body region of interest on the image, wherein the first determination circuitry performs, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest using the first method in the body region f interest, the second determination circuitry performs, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest using the second method in the body region of interest, and the third determination circuitry performs, on the image, segmentation to extract a spine as a region of interest using the third method in the body region of interest.

14 . A medical imaging device, comprising a medical image processing apparatus comprising:
reception circuitry configured to receive two points specified on at least one image; and detection circuitry configured to detect an intervertebral disc by evaluating a luminance distribution within a region that includes the two points.

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk
• Toshiba Medical Sys Corp

Inventors

• Dong Qiuying
• Xu Jin
• Liu Pengfei
• Zhao Jianchun
• Shinoda Kensuke
• Sakurai Yasuo

Classifications

• G06T7/11 Primary

  Region-based segmentation · CPC title

• G06K9/36

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T2207/30012

  Spine; Backbone · CPC title

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• G06T7/0081

  Physics · mapped topic