Fully Automated Colon Segmentation for the Computation of Complete Colon Centerline in Virtual Colonoscopy
Fully Automated Colon Segmentation for the Computation of Complete Colon Centerline in Virtual Colonoscopy
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DOI：
10.1109/tbme.2011.2182051
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发表时间：
2012-04-01
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Zhao，Jun
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lu，Lin;Zhang，Danfeng;Zhao，Jun
虚拟结肠镜检查通过沿着结肠中心线导航来检测息肉。基于CT数据的完整结肠分割是计算完整结肠中心线的前提。有两个主要的问题阻碍了完整的分割：过度膨胀/膨胀不足的结肠和口服造影剂的使用。过度扩张在分段结肠中产生环，而扩张不足可能导致分段结肠塌陷成一系列断开的节段。口服造影剂在CT上有很高的衰减，使用这种造影剂可能会给分段的结肠增加多余的结构（骨骼和小肠）。针对这两个问题，本文提出了一种全自动结肠分割方法。我们在170个案例中测试了所提出的方法，其中包括37个“中度”和133个“挑战性”案例。将计算机生成的中心线与人工生成的中心线（由三名放射科医生绘制）进行比较。该方法实现了90.56%的正确覆盖率相对于人类生成的中心线。我们还比较了所提出的方法与两个现有的结肠分割方法：Uitert的方法和Nappi的方法。两种方法的正确覆盖率分别为75.16%和72.59%。实验结果表明，该方法可以得到更完整的结肠中心线比现有的方法。
Virtual colonoscopy detects polyps by navigating along a colon centerline. Complete colon segmentation based on computed tomography (CT) data is a prerequisite to the computation of complete colon centerline. There are two main problems impeding complete segmentation: overdistention/underdistention of colon and the use of oral contrast agents. Overdistention produces loops in the segmented colon, while underdistention may cause the segmented colon collapse into a series of disconnected segments. Use of oral contrast agents, which have high attenuation on CT, may add redundant structures (bones and small bowels) to the segmented colon. A fully automated colon segmentation method is proposed in this paper to address the two problems. We tested the proposed method in 170 cases, including 37 “moderate” and 133 “challenging” cases. Computer-generated centerlines were compared with human-generated centerlines (plotted by three radiologists). The proposed method achieved a 90.56% correct coverage rate with respect to the human-generated centerlines. We also compared the proposed method with two existing colon segmentation methods: Uitert's method and Nappi's method. The results of these two methods were 75.16% and 72.59% correct coverage rates, respectively. Our experimental results indicate that the proposed method could yield more complete colon centerlines than the existing methods.