Automated modeling, quantification, and uncertainty evaluation of branching tubular and sheet structures from 3D medical images

结合成像条件和不确定度分析对由于成像过程的分辨率有限和边缘检测中的模糊引起的板宽测量误差进行了理论分析。在3D磁共振（MR）图像中测量片状（或板状）解剖结构（如关节软骨和大脑皮层）的厚度通常是一个重要的诊断过程。本文的目的是调查的基本限制，在MR图像中的厚度测定的准确性。给定成像和后处理参数，厚度确定精度的特性推导出通过理论模拟方法，特别是在非立方（各向异性）体素的情况下，片材结构取向对精度的影响。通过体外实验验证了理论模拟的正确性，并将PSF的影响引入到宽度测量过程中， ...更多信息 用逆问题来模拟它。一种充分利用多尺度线滤波器响应估计扫描器点扩展函数和基于点扩展函数的小管状结构直径的方法。估计问题被制定为一个最小二乘拟合的多尺度响应序列在每个中轴点预先计算的多尺度响应曲线的理想线模型。该方法通过体模实验进行了验证，并证明“准确地测量小直径的结构，这是显着高估了传统的方法的基础上的半高宽（FWHM）和零交叉边缘detection.Extraction分支管状结构我们开发了一个分支检测器使用多方向分析，这是特别有效的低对比度条件下的外周血管。我们将所提出的分支检测器集成到混合血管跟踪系统中，该系统通过分析局部强度分布，基于对比度评价自适应地选择两种不同机制的分支检测器。提出的分支检测器用于低对比度的情况下，而在高对比度的情况下，基于区域生长的传统方法。该混合跟踪系统兼顾了高对比度下的稳定性和低对比度下的鲁棒性。通过对腹部CT数据集的ROC分析表明，该方法是有效的。我们还表明，所提出的方法可以提取90%的肝动脉可观察到的放射科医生在横截面图像使用19腹部CT数据集。少

Accurate quantification incorporating imaging conditions and uncertainty analysisThe measurement error of the sheet width due to limited resolution of the imaging processes and blurring involved in edge detection was theoretically analyzed. Measuring the thickness of sheet-like (or plate-like) anatomical structures, such as articular cartilages and brain cortex, in 3D magnetic resonance (MR) images is often an important diagnostic procedure. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the fundamental limits to the accuracy of thickness determination in MR images. Given imaging and postprocessing parameters, the characteristics of thickness determination accuracy are derived by means of a theoretical simulation method, focusing especially on the effect of sheet structure orientation on accuracy in the case of noncubic (anisotropic) voxels. The theoretical simulation was validated by in vitro experiments.The effects of the PSF were incorporated into the width measurement procedure by for … More mulating it by an inverse problem. A method fully utilizes multiscale line filter responses to estimate the PSF of a scanner and diameters of small tubular structures based on the PSF. The estimation problem is formulated as a least square fitting of a sequence of multiscale responses obtained at each medial axis point to the precomputed multiscale response curve for the ideal line model. The method was validated through phantom experiments and demonstrated to `accurately measure small-diameter structures which are significantly overestimated by conventional methods based on the full width half maximum (FWHM) and zero-crossing edge detection.Extraction of branching tubular structuresWe develop a branch detector using multi-orientation analysis, which is especially effective for peripheral vessels under low contrast conditions. We integrate the proposed branch detector into a hybrid vessel tracking system, which adaptively selects two different mechanisms of branch detectors based on contrast evaluations by analyzing local intensity distribution. The proposed branch detector is used in low contrast case while a conventional method based on region growing in high contrast case. The hybrid tracking system copes with both of the stability in high contrast case and the robustness in low contrast case. The proposed method was shown to be effective through ROC analysis using abdominal CT data sets. We also showed that the proposed method could extract 90% of hepatic arteries observable by a radiologist in the cross-sectional images using 19 abdominal CT data sets. Less