METHODS FOR MAPPING KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES TO ORGANS: AUTOMATED MEASUREMENTS AND VISUALIZATION USING KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE MAPPING

摘要

Various methods for automatically generating a structured clinical report by using a pre-defined template structure and mapping it to the imaging data set of an organ (such as a CT or MR scan) are presented. A template or knowledge structure may describe the general structure of a tube- like organ, and may be based on prior knowledge related to acceptable ranges of measurement or rations for a particular organ or area of interest. The organ of interest may be segmented out from original image slices. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention a corresponding centerline can be calculated and a skeleton of the tube-like o rgan can be created. Based on the centerline extracted, a knowledge structure (template) can be mapped to the organ data. Since required measurements may be defined in the template, actual measurements can be automatically calculated for th e structure. Such measurements may be further refined in a three dimensional environment, and can be used to form a structured clinical report for further use.