A Semi-Automatic Procedure to Extract Couinaud Liver Segments from Multi-slice CT Data

摘要

Liver resection and transplantation surgeries require careful planning and accurate knowledge of the vascular and gross anatomy of the liver. This study aims to create a semi-automatic method for segmenting the liver, along with its entire venous vessel tree from multi-detector computed tomograms. Using fast marching and region-growth techniques along with morphological operations, we have developed a software package which can isolate the liver and the hepatic venous network from a user-selected seed point. The user is then presented with volumetric analysis of the liver and a 3-Dimensional surface rendering. Software tools allow the user to then analyze the lobes of the liver based upon venous anatomy, as defined by Couinaud. The software package also has utilities for data management, key image specification, commenting, and reporting. Seven patients were scanned with contrast on the Mx8000 CT scanner (Philips Medical Systems), the data was analyzed using our method and compared with results found using a manual method. The results show that the semi-automated method utilizes less time than manual methods, with results that are consistent and similar. Also, display of the venous network along with the entire liver in three dimensions is a unique feature of this software.