A method for generating unfolded views using external wall information of organs
Hiroki Oka, Takayuki Kitasaka, Kensaku Mori, Yasuhito Suenaga, Jun‐ichiro Toriwaki · Electronics and Communications in Japan (Part II Electronics) · 2005
This paper describes a method for generating virtual unfolded images on the basis of the results of organ wall extraction. The virtual unfolded image is a visualization of the inner wall surface of a cavity organ as a single image. In past research, the approximate shape of the considered organ has been constructed from the inner wall surface shape, obtained by extracting the air region inside the cavity organ. But the problem is encountered that folds on the inner wall surface are also stretched by the unfolding process, which prevents accurate reproduction of the shape in the unfolded image. Consequently, the unfolded image is generated in this study on the basis of information on the outer wall surface of the organ, which does not have folds and has a relatively smooth shape. Specifically, the change of the CT value is examined in the direction normal to the inner wall surface. The boundary of the considered organ is inferred and the organ wall region is extracted. The approximate shape of the organ is constructed from the extracted organ wall region, based on its outer wall surface, and then the unfolding processing is performed. The method was applied to six cases of three-dimensional abdominal X-ray CT images, and it was verified that satisfactory virtual unfolded views of the organ could be generated. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 88(8): 42–53, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20200