Quantitative evaluation of observation methods in virtual endoscopy based on the rate of undisplayed region

摘要

This paper quantitatively evaluates observation methods based on undisplayed regions in virtual endoscopy (VE). When we use a VE system as a diagnostic tool, especially as a tool for detecting colorectal polyps, a medical doctor observes the state of the colonic wall. Automated fly-through is often used to reduce system operation load. The system generates automated fly-through paths using the medial axes extracted from colon regions. Because there are many folds in the colon, these folds may cause some blind areas in the views. The aim of this study is to evaluate automated fly-through method in VE based on undisplayed regions. There is no other research on evaluation of undisplayed regions. We evaluate various kinds of automated fly-through paths from the viewpoint of the rate of undisplayed regions. Flattened views are also used for comparison. The experimental results show that about 30% of colon regions are not displayed at all during automated fly-through. The flattened views show smaller rate of undisplayed regions than one of automated fly-through.