IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD FOR BOUNDARY EXTRACTION BETWEEN AT LEAST TWO TISSUES, THE BOUNDARY BEING FOUND AS THE COST MINIMUM PATH CONNECTING A START POINT AND AN END POINT USING THE FAST MARCHING ALGORITHM WITH THE COST FUNCTION DECREASES THE MORE LIKE

摘要

A method and system for detecting a boundary between a first and second tissue in a two-dimensional image. A cost is assigned to each pixel in a detection region indicative of the likelihood that the pixel is not located on the boundary between the first and second tissue. The boundary between the first and second tissues or organs is a path of voxels of minimal cost in the detection region from among two or more paths, the cost of a path being obtained in a calculation based upon the costs assigned to the voxels of the path. The method may be used to detect a boundary between a first and a second tissue or organ in a three-dimensional scan by applying the method to each of one or more two-dimensional sections and joining the two dimensional boundaries into a three dimensional boundary in the three dimensional scan.