Methods for mapping knowledge structures to organs: automated measurements and visualization using knowledge structure mapping

Abstract

Various methods for automatically generating a structured clinical report by using a pre-defined template structure and mapping it to the imaging data set of an organ (such as a CT or MR scan) are presented. A template or knowledge structure may describe the general structure of a tube- like organ, and may be based on prior knowledge related to acceptable ranges of measurement or rations for a particular organ or area of interest. The organ of interest may be segmented out from original image slices. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a corresponding centerline can be calculated and a skeleton of the tube-like o rgan can be created. Based on the centerline extracted, a knowledge structure (template) can be mapped to the organ data. Since required measurements may be defined in the template, actual measurements can be automatically calculated for th e structure. Such measurements may be further refined in a three dimensional environment, and can be used to form a structured clinical report for further use.

Description

[0001] cross reference [0002] This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 631,266, filed November 26, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth. technical field [0003] The present invention relates to the field of medical imaging and more precisely to methods for measuring parameters of anatomical structures and interactively visualizing anatomical structures which can be mapped to templates using knowledge structure mapping. Background technique [0004] By taking advantage of advances in technology, medical procedure planning and diagnosis can be performed in a virtual environment. With the advent of advanced diagnostic scanning medical devices, such as computed tomography ("CT"), a radiological procedure in which many x-ray slices of regions of the body are obtained, sufficient data can be obtained about a given patient to enable three-dimensional Construction of a volume dataset, a thr...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, existing systems have at least two drawbacks: (1) users make redundant measurements; or (2) users make insufficient measurements

Furthermore, in order to obtain a complete clinical report, the user has to perform a large number of interactions

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