Scanning apparatus, medical image device and scanning method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9895122-B2
Application number	US-201414276024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2014
Priority date	May 13, 2013
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

A scanning apparatus according to an embodiment includes a first scanning control unit, a first determination unit, a second scanning control unit, a second determination unit, and a third scanning control unit. The first scanning control unit obtains at least one first slice image of the leg in an approximate coronal plane direction. The first determination unit determines a direction of a gap between a thighbone and a shinbone in the at least one first slice image. The second scanning control unit obtains at least one second slice image of the leg in a direction vertical to the direction of the gap in the at least one first slice image. The second determination unit determines an axial plane direction according to the at least one second slice image. The third scanning control unit obtains at least one slice image of the leg in the axial plane direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A scanning apparatus, comprising:
a medical imaging apparatus configured to perform scanning operations on a leg;
processing circuitry configured to:
control a first scanning operation performed by the medical imaging apparatus on the leg to obtain at least one first slice image of the leg in an approximate coronal plane direction;
determine a direction along a line passing through a gap between a thighbone and a shinbone in the at least one first slice image;
control a second scanning operation performed by the medical imaging apparatus on the leg to obtain at least one second slice image of a sagittal plane of the leg in a direction vertical to the direction along the line passing through the gap in the at least one first slice image;
determine an axial plane direction according to a shape of a shinbone in the at least one second slice image, wherein to determine the axial plane direction, the processing circuitry is further configured to,
recognize the shinbone from the at least one second slice image,
mark, in an extension direction of the shinbone, a plurality of midpoints in a transverse direction of the shinbone at predetermined intervals,
determine the extension direction of the longest and/or straightest shinbone according to the plurality of midpoints, and
determine a direction vertical to the extension direction of the longest and/or straightest shinbone as the axial plane direction; and

control a third scanning operation performed by the medical imaging apparatus on the leg to obtain at least one slice image of the leg in the axial plane direction.

2. The scanning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processing circuitry is further configured to
determine a coronal plane direction and/or a sagittal plane direction according to the at least one slice image in the axial plane direction; and
control a scanning operation performed on the leg to obtain at least one slice image in the coronal plane direction and/or at least one slice image in the sagittal plane direction.

3. The scanning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
convert the at least one first slice image into an edge image;
select a first slice image in which the gap between the thighbone and the shinbone is clear according to an edge distribution of the edge image; and
determine the direction of along the line passing through the gap between the thighbone and the shinbone in the selected first slice image.

4. The scanning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
determine the boundaries of the leg on both sides;
determine an extension direction of the leg according to the boundaries of the leg on both sides;
determine an edge distribution in a direction nearly vertical to the extension direction of the leg; and
select, as the first slice image in which the gap between the thighbone and the shinbone is clear, a first slice image having the highest edge distribution in the direction nearly vertical to the extension direction of the leg.

5. The scanning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to fit points on an edge of the selected first slice image in a direction nearly vertical to the extension direction of the leg into a straight line representing the gap between the thighbone and the shinbone, the straight line representing the direction along the line passing through the gap in the at least one first slice image.

6. The scanning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
perform a linear fitting on the plurality of midpoints to obtain a fitted straight line representing the extension direction of the shinbone;
determine a length of the shinbone according to the number of the midpoints passing through the fitted straight line; and
select, from the at least one second slice image, a second slice image containing the longest shinbone image.

7. The scanning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
perform a linear fitting on the plurality of midpoints to obtain a fitted straight line representing the extension direction of the shinbone;
determine the straightness of the shinbone according to the spatial distribution of the plurality of midpoints with respect to the fitted straight line representing the extension direction of the shinbone; and
select, from the at least one second slice image, a second slice image containing the straightest shinbone image according to the straightness of the shinbone.

8. The scanning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
perform a linear fitting on the plurality of midpoints to obtain a fitted straight line representing the extension direction of the shinbone;
determine the length of the shinbone according to the number of the midpoints passing through the fitted straight line;
determine the straightness of the shinbone according to the spatial distribution of the plurality of midpoints with respect to the fitted straight line representing the extension direction of the shinbone; and
select, from the at least one slice image, the second slice image containing the longest and straightest shinbone image according to the length and straightness of shinbone.

9. The scanning apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the coronal plane direction and/or the sagittal plane direction according to the posterior condylar line of the femoral cross section in the at least one slice image in the axial plane direction.

10. The scanning apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to
convert at least one slice image in the axial plane direction into a contour image;
compare the contour image with a femoral cross section template to recognize the femoral cross section that is most similar to the femoral cross section template;
determine the posterior condylar line according to the femoral cross section that is most similar to the femoral cross section template; and
determine a direction parallel to the posterior condylar line and vertical to the axial plane direction as the coronal plane direction and/or determine a direction parallel to a line, which forms a predetermined angle with the posterior condylar line, and vertical to the axial plane direction as the sagittal plane direction.

11. The scanning apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to divide, based on graph theory, the at least one slice image in the axial plane direction into a plurality of parts and convert the image after being divided into a contour images.

12. The scanning apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to compare, based on shape context, the contour image with the femoral cross section template to recognize the femoral cross section that is most similar to the femoral cross section template.

Assignees

• Toshiba Medical Sys Corp

Inventors

• Zhang Bowen
• Zhao Jianchun

Classifications

• G06T2207/10072

  Tomographic images · CPC title

• A61B6/5217

  extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data · CPC title

• A61B5/4585

  Evaluating the knee · CPC title

• G06T7/13

  Edge detection · CPC title

• G06T2207/30008

  Bone · CPC title