Spine image registration method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019392552-A1
Application number	US-201816109753-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 23, 2018
Priority date	Jun 22, 2018
Publication date	Dec 26, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A spine image registration method includes: obtaining a CT image and an MRI image corresponding to a spine; inputting the CT image into a first model to identify at least one first vertebral body of the spine in the CT image; inputting the MRI image to a second model to identify at least one second vertebral body of the spine in the MRI image; marking the first vertebral body with at least one first landmark and marking the second vertebral body with at least one second landmark; matching the first landmark with the second landmark to obtain a corresponding relationship; performing a registration on the CT image and the MRI image according to the corresponding relationship, and generating a registered image according to the content of the CT image and the content of the MRI image located in the same coordinate space; and outputting the registered image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A spine image registration method for an electronic device, the method comprising:
obtaining a first CT (Computed Tomography) image and a first MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) image corresponding to a first spine; inputting the first CT image into at least one first model to identify at least one first vertebral body of the first spine in the first CT image; inputting the first MRI image into a second model to identify at least one second vertebral body of the first spine in the first MRI image; marking the at least one first vertebral body with at least one first landmark, and marking the at least one second vertebral body with at least one second landmark; matching the at least one first landmark with the at least one second landmark to obtain a corresponding relationship between the at least one first landmark and the at least one second landmark; performing a registration on the first CT image and the first MRI image according to the corresponding relationship such that a content of the first CT image and a content of the first MRI image are located in a same coordinate space, and generating a registered image according to the content of the first CT image and the content of the first MRI image located in the same coordinate space; and outputting the registered image.

2 . The spine image registration method according to claim 1 , wherein before the step of inputting the first CT image into the at least one first model, the method further comprises:
obtaining at least one second CT image corresponding to a second spine, and obtaining at least one first training template corresponding to the second spine in the at least one second CT image; performing a feature capture on the first training template to obtain at least one first feature; and inputting the at least one first feature into a machine learning model for training to generate the at least one first model.

3 . The spine image registration method according to claim 1 , wherein before the step of inputting the first MRI image into the second model, the method further comprises:
obtaining at least one second MRI image corresponding to a third spine, and obtaining at least one second training template corresponding to the third spine in the at least one second MRI image; performing a feature capture on the at least one second training template to obtain at least one second feature; and inputting the at least one second feature into a machine learning model for training to generate the second model.

4 . The spine image registration method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one first model comprises a third model and a fourth model, wherein the step of inputting the first CT image into the at least one first model to identify the at least one first vertebral body of the first spine in the first CT image comprises:
inputting the first CT image into the third model to identify a first spine center point of the first spine in a first horizontal plane of the first CT image; obtaining a first reference line in a first sagittal plane of the first CT image according to the first spine center point; inputting the first CT image into the fourth model to identify the at least one first vertebral body of the first spine in the first sagittal plane of the first CT image; identifying a first erroneous vertebral body in the at least one first vertebral body according to the first reference line and the at least one first vertebral body in the first sagittal plane; and deleting the first erroneous vertebral body in the at least one first vertebral body.

5 . The spine image registration method according to claim 4 , wherein the step of inputting the first CT image into the fourth model to identify the at least one first vertebral body of the first spine in the first sagittal plane of the first CT image comprises:
framing the at least one first vertebral body respectively by at least one box, wherein after the step of deleting the first erroneous vertebral body in the at least one first vertebral body, the method further comprises: obtaining a first coordinate value of a center point of each of the at least one box in a first dimension, identifying a second coordinate value of a center point of each of the at least one first vertebral body in the first dimension by sorting according to the first coordinate value, and obtaining a three dimensional (3D) coordinate of the center point of each of the at least one first vertebral body in a 3D space according to the second coordinate value.

6 . The spine image registration method according to claim 5 , wherein the step of inputting the first MRI image into the second model to identify the at least one second vertebral body of the first spine in the first MRI image comprises:
inputting the first MRI image into the second model to identify a second spine center point of the first spine in a second horizontal plane of the first MRI image; obtaining a second reference line in a second sagittal plane of the first MRI image according to the second spine center point; identifying at least one vertebral disc of the first spine in the second sagittal plane of the first MRI image according to a signal strength of a plurality of reference points on the second reference line; and obtaining a third coordinate value of a center point of each of the at least one second vertebral body in the first dimension according to the vertebral disc, and obtaining the 3D coordinate of the center point of each of the at least one second vertebral body in the 3D space according to the third coordinate value.

7 . The spine image registration method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of marking the at least one first vertebral body with the at least one first landmark and marking the at least one second vertebral body with the at least one second landmark comprises:
selecting a plurality of third vertebral bodies in the at least one first vertebral body; selecting a plurality of fourth vertebral bodies in the at least one second vertebral body, wherein the third vertebral bodies are respectively corresponding to the fourth vertebral bodies; marking the third vertebral bodies respectively with the at least one first landmark according to the 3D coordinate of a center point of each of the third vertebral bodies in the 3D space, wherein the at least one first landmark is non-coplanar to each other; marking the fourth vertebral bodies respectively with the at least one second landmark according to the 3D coordinate of a center point of each of the fourth vertebral bodies in the 3D space, wherein the at least one second landmark is non-coplanar to each other; and matching the at least one first landmark with the at least one second landmark to obtain the corresponding relationship between the at least one first landmark and the at least one second landmark.

8 . The spine image registration method according to claim 7 , wherein before the step of selecting the third vertebral bodies in the at least one first vertebral body, the method further comprises:
selecting a fifth vertebral body in the at least one first vertebral body, wherein the fifth vertebral body comprises a first reference point located on the first reference line, and a coordinate value of the first reference point in a second dimension is greater than coordinate values of other reference points on the first reference line in the second dimension; and selecting the third vertebral bodies including the fifth vertebral body based on the fifth vertebral body, wherein before the step of selecting the fourth vertebral bodies in the at least one second vertebral body, the method further comprises: selecting a sixth vertebral body in the at least one second verte

Assignees

• Univ Nat Taiwan Science & Technology

Inventors

• Wang Ching-Wei
• Ko Hsin-Ya

Classifications

• G06T7/33

  using feature-based methods · CPC title

• G06T2207/10081

  Computed x-ray tomography [CT] · CPC title

• G06T2207/30012

  Spine; Backbone · CPC title

• G06T2207/10084

  Hybrid tomography; Concurrent acquisition with multiple different tomographic modalities · CPC title

• G06T2207/10088

  Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] · CPC title