Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Bert Leo Alfons Verdonck

Pierre Henri Lelong

Marcel Breeuwer

Sherif Makram-Ebeid

Olivier Gerard

Frans Andreas Gerritsen

Albert Gerrit Veldhuizen

Milena Planells-Rodriguez

The invention relates to the processing of a series of images. A multi-dimensional data set is formed from the series of images, for example, by stacking the images in order of succession. A cut plane is taken through the stack, that is, in the direction of succession and a slice through the stack is taken along the cut plane. A region of interest is derived from the slice. The invention is particularly useful for cardiology where a stack of successive MR images of a moving heart is formed. The ventricles of the heart are accurately segmented while using the slice in the direction of the time axis.

Processing of images in a direction of succession

A method of producing an improved straightened reformat is presented in which cross sections are calculated perpendicular to an elongate subject described within an object data set, a reference direction is determined in each cross sectional slice and a new object data set is created by concatenating the cross sectional slices, each cross sectional slice orientated so that the reference directions in the cross sectional slices are aligned. Various methods are presented by which the reference direction is determined within each cross sectional slice, including propagation from an original reference direction and optimization using determined reference directions as boundary conditions.

Method of straightening a reformat for navigation and quantification

A method and an X-ray apparatus for imaging anatomical parts of the human anatomy, in particular for imaging the human spine. In order to improve the quality and the diagnostic value of projection images of the anatomical parts the invention acquires at least one initial projection image of at least the region of interest of the anatomy, to determine the positions and/or orientations of the anatomical parts in the region of interest from the at least one initial projection image and/or from other sources of information, to determine the optimum imaging parameters for the anatomical parts from their positions and/or orientations, and to acquire images of the anatomical parts while using the optimum imaging parameters. The complexity of the scene and the mixture of over-projecting structures limiting the diagnostic reliability of the projection images are thus taken into account. In a preferred embodiment a scanning trajectory is determined while using the information of the at least one initial projection image along which the source-detector unit is moved while acquiring the projection images of the spine.

Method and X-ray apparatus for optimally imaging anatomical parts of the human anatomy

A method for extracting geometrical data from a 2-D digital image of the spine, comprising steps for determining spine outlines, endplates and corners wherein:

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Bert Leo Alfons Verdonck