The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 22, 2011
Filed:
Jul. 31, 2008
Rachid Fahmi, Louisville, KY (US);
Matthias Wolf, Coatesville, PA (US);
Anna Jerebko, West Chester, PA (US);
Rachid Fahmi, Louisville, KY (US);
Matthias Wolf, Coatesville, PA (US);
Anna Jerebko, West Chester, PA (US);
Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Malvern, PA (US);
Abstract
A method for segmenting tubular structures in medical images includes providing at least a start point and an end point in a digital image volume, minimizing an action surface U(p) which, at each image point p, corresponds to a minimal energy integrated along a path that starts at start point pand ends at p, sliding back on the minimal action surface from an end point to the start point to find a minimal path connecting the terminal points, initializing a level set function with points on the minimal path, and evolving the level set function to find a surface of a structure about the minimal path, wherein the level set function is constrained to be close to a signed distance function and wherein the level set function is prevented from growing wider than a predetermined diameter R, wherein the surface about the minimal path defines a tubular structure.