JP5487264B2 - Biological data model creation method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to creation of biological data used for simulating surgery and an apparatus therefor .

  In recent years, fusion of medicine and engineering has deepened rapidly, and a surgical simulator utilizing advanced calculation technology has been proposed. In these methods, the living body to be operated is composed of polygons and basically only the surface of the organ is simulated, and therefore, dynamic simulation of a complex organ having an internal structure cannot be performed accurately. There was an urgent need to create a model with three-dimensional volume data.

The problem to be solved has been patient-specific with the development of a surgical simulator, and it has been essential to create a data model having an internal structure and capable of biomechanical simulation. The challenges for its realization are as follows.
・ Use medical image data ・ Apply physical property values of biological parts based on image information ・ Separate target organs from image data ・ Create a three-dimensional biological data model

In the biometric data model creation method according to claim 1, when extracting a part of a living body from a medical image obtained by imaging the living body, a point inside the extraction target region is designated as a point of interest, and the neighboring pixel In the method of performing similarity determination and creating a three-dimensional data model from medical image data, the computer selects an extraction start point, extraction target points around the start point, and non-extraction target points by interactive processing on a computer screen, and the computer has The first process in which the teacher data creating means creates initial teacher data based on these pieces of information, and the threshold value determining means provided in the computer is a local area centered around the point of interest as an extraction start point. And the median value of the extraction target point data set in the extraction determination area and the median value of the non-extraction target point data set in the extraction determination area as A second step of determining a threshold value from the internal teacher data, and a third step of determining whether the target point update means included in the computer determines whether the target point is a target or non-target based on the threshold value determined in the second step and process, the target point update means provided to the computer, and a fourth step of updating the median value by adding the determination result by said third step determination result to the data and teacher data, the target point updating unit included in the computer , The point determined last as the target region in the local region is set as a new attention point, and the processing of the second to fourth processes is executed in the local region centered on the point, When there is no point determined to be, it is characterized by comprising the fifth step of completing the processing.

  The biometric data model creation device according to claim 2 specifies a point inside the extraction target region as a point of interest when extracting a part of the living body from a medical image obtained by imaging the living body, In an apparatus for performing similarity determination and creating a three-dimensional data model from medical image data, the initial value is determined based on the extraction start point selected by interactive processing on the computer screen, and information on extraction target points and non-extraction target points around the start point. Teacher data creation means for creating the teacher data and updating the median value, and the initial position of the extraction target point data set in the extraction determination region as the local region in the local region centered on the attention point as the extraction start point Threshold value that determines the threshold value from the internal teacher data consisting of the median value and the median value of the non-extractable point data set in the extraction judgment area The determination means determines whether or not the target point is a target or non-target based on the determined threshold value, adds the result to the determination result data and the teacher data, and newly sets the point determined last as the target region in the local region The processing is performed in a local region centered on the point as a point of interest, and when there is no point determined to be the target region within the local region, the point of interest is updated, and the point of interest is updated. Is.

  According to the biometric data model creation method according to claim 1, in the second process, the initial position is a local area centered on the point of interest as the extraction start point, and the extraction target point data in the extraction determination area as the local area A threshold value is determined from internal teacher data consisting of the median value of the set and the median value of the non-extractable point data set in the extraction determination area. In the third process, the attention point is determined by the threshold determined in the second process. In the fourth process, the determination result in the third process is added to the determination result data and the teacher data to update the median value. Since each of these processes is generated as an evaluation criterion using local region information, it is possible to have a local threshold in target region extraction and determine whether it is a target or non-target close to the actual biological feature distribution. Can be determined.

  According to the biological data model creation device according to claim 2, the threshold value determination unit is an extraction target point data set in an extraction determination region as a local region, with the initial position being a local region centered on a point of interest having an extraction start point. A threshold value is determined from the internal teacher data consisting of the median value of the image and the median value of the non-extractable target point data set in the extraction determination region, and the attention point update means determines whether the attention point is the target or non-target based on the determined threshold value And the result is added to the determination result data and the teacher data, and the last point determined as the target area in the local area is set as a new attention point, and the process is executed in the local area centered on that point. However, if there is no point determined to be the target region within the local region, the processing is completed. Since these threshold value determination means and attention point update means generate evaluation criteria using local area information, they can have local threshold values in target area extraction, and approximate to the actual biological feature distribution. To determine whether it is a target or non-target.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a biological data model creation device. In FIG. 1, 101 is a CT image data file, 102 is an MRI image data file, 103 is a PET image data file, 104 is a distortion correction unit, 105 is a segmentation unit, 106 is a physical property value assigning unit, 107 is a physical property value table, 108 Is a finite element division unit, 109 is a preprocessing unit, 110 is a tetrahedral division unit, 111 is a post-processing unit, and 112 is a structured file. The distortion correction unit 104 to the entire post-processing unit 111 are configured by a computer to realize the function of each block. Furthermore, the CT image data file 101, the MRI image data file 102, and the PET image data file 103 are medical image data, and a plurality of images obtained by sequentially photographing a cross section of a living body within a predetermined range in the height direction, that is, a plurality of slice images. Is stored. CT, MRI, and PET each constitute an image sensor, and each image provides a sensor image, and each sensor image has a sensor value called a CT value, an MRI value, or a PET value, and is specific to the material properties of each tissue. The value of is shown as shades of color.

2 and 3 are a block diagram and a flow diagram for explaining a technique for obtaining a more preferable biological cross-sectional image based on a biological cross-sectional image from two different types of image sensor data, and FIG. 2 is a distortion correction in FIG. Part 104 is included.
The operator selects, for example, the CT image data file 101 and the MRI image data file 102 to be paired from the CT image data file 101, the MRI image data file 102, or the PET image data file 103 of the operation subject (FIG. 3). Step P301), the CT image is displayed on the screen of the first image display device 201 and the MRI image is displayed as a set on the screen of the second image display device 202. At this time, the images to be displayed have the same cross section with respect to the same person's body, and can be displayed by sequentially changing the cross-sectional portions. In addition, CT images have a higher spatial resolution than MRI images and do not cause distortion during imaging, and thus have a feature that allows the shape of a tissue to be captured more accurately. In addition, MRI images have a larger amount of information than CT images because of the high resolution of soft tissues, and therefore, more physical property values of tissues can be acquired than CT images, and distortion may occur during imaging depending on the imaging device. There is also a case where the shape is not accurately reflected. In order to take advantage of the advantages of each image, the tissue image based on the MRI image is rearranged into a shape including the contour of the CT image. PET is a kind of computer tomography technique and is used for cancer diagnosis and the like, and it is possible to generate a model of a cancerous organ in combination with a CT / MRI image.
In the embodiment, a CT / MRI image is selected, and a tissue image based on the MRI image is rearranged on the contour of the CT image. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The other may be used for a tissue image to be rearranged on it, and belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.
The operator sets a plurality of feature points pointing to the same location from the displayed CT image and MRI image (process P302 in FIG. 3). By setting the feature points, the computer displays the feature points on both image screens with a designated number. These feature points are associated with each other as a set of points on both screens by using the sharp corners of bones and body tissues as feature points by observing images based on the knowledge and experience of specialists as doctors (FIG. 4 ( a), (b)). The feature point group storage means 203 stores the feature point coordinates of the respective screens corresponding to the feature point numbers designated by the operator.
The polynomial group setting unit 204 reads out the feature point coordinates x and y in the CT image and the feature point coordinates u and v in the MRI image from the feature point group storage unit 203 for each specified number, for example, for each specified number, and performs projective transformation. Formula u = (a ₁ x + a ₂ y + a ₃ ) / (a ₇ x + a ₈ y + 1)
v = (a ₄ x + a ₅ y + a ₆ ) / (a ₇ x + a ₈ y + 1)
(Step P303 in FIG. 3). The transform coefficient calculation means 205 solves the polynomial group set by the polynomial group setting means 204 by the least square method and derives the transform coefficients a _{1 to} a ₈ (process P304 in FIG. 3). Since the conversion coefficients a _{1 to} a ₈ are 8, eight or more equations are connected simultaneously to derive the conversion coefficients a _{1 to} a ₈ . Since two equations are established by one set of feature points, at least four sets of feature points are required.
The contour correction unit 206 applies the conversion coefficients a _{1 to} a ₈ derived by the conversion coefficient calculation unit 205 to the projective conversion formula for the MRI image displayed on the second image display device 202, and calculates the corresponding CT image. The coordinates are obtained and rearrangement is performed by linear interpolation to correct image distortion (process P305 in FIG. 3). By rearrangement, the position corresponding to the CRT image is calculated and arranged for the MRI image. By this processing, an image in which the cross section of the living body, for example, the contour of the trunk portion matches the contour of the CT image can be obtained (FIG. 4C). The contour corrected image is stored in the distortion corrected image storage unit 207.

Next, in order to extract (segmentation) human organs, the following technique will be described. That is, one point (attention point) inside the extraction target area is specified, similarity determination with the attention point is performed on the neighboring pixels, and the similar area with the attention point is expanded by taking in the pixels determined to be similar. The image region extraction method called region growing method (region growth method) that extracts the snow target region has been improved, and in the similarity determination, (1) the acquired information that is the position and pixel value of the extraction target region and the non-extraction region It is used as teacher data for determination, (2) only information on the local region near the point of interest is used for determination, and (3) a median is used as a determination criterion to extract a target region from three-dimensional human body data.
Here, the reason for using only local area information will be described. The region growing process generates an evaluation criterion (threshold value) for region expansion on the assumption that the feature distribution of the entire region is a normal distribution. Since the assumption that the feature distribution of the image follows the normal distribution does not necessarily hold for biological volume data, it is necessary to have a local evaluation criterion in the target region extraction. use.
5 and 6 are a functional block diagram and a flow diagram for explaining the operation function of the segmentation unit 105.
The MRI image whose distortion has been corrected by the contour correcting means 206, that is, medical image data that is three-dimensional human body data including the extraction target part, is input and displayed on the second image display device 202. The operator observes the screen and designates a local region (= extraction determination region) of the organ as a part to be extracted on the screen and the size of the local region (local region width, height, depth pixels) Size) is input to the local region size storage unit 501 (process P601 in FIG. 6). The size of the local area can be changed for each extraction process.
The teacher data creation unit 502 selects the extraction start point, the extraction target points around the start point, and the non-extraction target points by interactive processing on the computer screen, that is, the second image display device 202, and extracts these pieces of information. The result is written in the data array in which the result is written in the format of “1: in the region, −1: outside the region, 0: unprocessed” and set as initial teacher data (process P602 in FIG. 6). This data is stored in the teacher data storage unit 503.
The threshold value determining means 504 uses the extraction start point as an initial position, a median value of the extraction target point data set in the extraction determination area as a local area, and a non-extraction in the extraction determination area in the local area centered on the attention point. A threshold value is determined from the internal teacher data composed of the median value of the target point data set (process P603 in FIG. 6). The threshold value at this time is determined by the following equation.
Threshold = ((medT + medF) / 2) · (1−α)
Where α: shift value,
medT: median value of the set of extraction target point data (pixel value) in the extraction determination area medF: median value shift value α (0 ≦ α ≦ 1) of the non-extraction target point data (pixel value) set in the extraction determination area is the extraction intensity When α is set to a large value with α = 0 as the default value, the extraction condition becomes loose, and the number of extraction increases compared to the case where the prime number is the default value. The smaller the value, the stricter the extraction condition, and the smaller the number of extracted pixels. . By using the median value, the extraction determination is not affected by abrupt changes in image characteristics (difference in pixel values) and neighboring already extracted regions.
The point-of-interest update unit 505 determines whether the point of interest is a target or non-target (whether it is an organ to be extracted or not an organ) based on the threshold value determined by the threshold value determination unit 504 (process P604 in FIG. 6). Further, the point-of-interest update unit 505 adds the result to the determination result data storage unit 506 and the teacher data storage unit 503 (process P605 in FIG. 6), and provides the threshold determination unit 504 for further threshold determination. Further, the point-of-interest updating unit 505 sets a point determined last as the target region in the local region as a new point of interest (process P606 in FIG. 6).
The process from step P603 to step P605 in FIG. 6 is executed in the local region centered on the point until there is no point determined as the target region inside the local region (step P607 in FIG. 6). For one organ to be extracted, if there is no point determined to be the target region within the local region, the processing is completed for one image. This process is performed for a plurality of slice images that are sequentially captured in a predetermined range in the height direction of the spine. The same process is performed when extracting other organs.

Next, the three-dimensional image data obtained by extracting the target part obtained by the attention point update unit 505 of the segmentation unit 105 is manually added or deleted using the GUI in units of slice images, and selected in units of slices. A technique for superimposing the parts and outputting three-dimensional image data according to the simulated situation will be described.
FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram, FIG. 8 is a flowchart, FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining extraction image repair processing by manual setting, and FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining integration of extraction sites in units of slice images. The functional blocks in FIG. 7 are included in the segmentation unit 105.
The operator designates a slice image within a predetermined range, and the image composition unit 701 uses the slice image at the same position in the height direction of the living body, that is, the extracted image data output from the attention point update unit 505. The slice image and the pre-extraction source image obtained from the distortion corrected image storage unit 206, that is, the contour corrected slice image, are color-coded and combined so that they can be visually distinguished (process P801 in FIG. 8). This synthesized image is displayed on the first image display device 201, for example. The operator sees this screen.
The image correction unit 702 designates the added portion, for example, in red or the deleted portion in green, for example, with the mouse based on the original image for the image synthesized by the image synthesizing unit 701 and displayed on the first image display device 201. Then, a corrected image in which the addition / deletion information is reflected in the extracted image is output (process P802 in FIG. 8). This addition is to supplement the extraction when there is an extraction failure in the processes of the process P601 to the process P607. This additional process is performed in the same manner as the process P601 to process P607. Moreover, the designation of the deleted part and the correction thereof are for complementing the case where extra extraction is performed. Deletion is performed by rewriting the result information indicating that it is an extraction target recorded in the determination result data storage unit 506 with respect to the point of interest, to the information indicating that it is a non-extraction target.
The process P802 in FIG. 8 is repeated for the number of organs necessary for the simulation (process P803 in FIG. 8).
The three-dimensional data output means 703 laminates and outputs a composite image obtained by selecting a plurality of extracted part images created by the image correction means 702 in accordance with the operation contents to be simulated and synthesizing them in units of biological cross-sectional images. (Step P804 in FIG. 8, FIG. 10). By synthesizing and stacking only organs necessary for simulation, three-dimensional data can be obtained. As described above, the extraction process is performed for one type of organ or tissue, and a model applied to the simulator usually has a plurality of parts, and therefore, the parts extracted separately are superimposed. As the model, for example, when the model construction near the kidney is considered, a kidney, a renal artery, a renal vein, and a membrane existing around the kidney are considered. Each of these is extracted, shaped (added or deleted), and then combined to obtain three-dimensional data for creating a data model. In addition, it is possible to construct a model that meets the demands of hospital departments (brain surgery, cardiac surgery, etc.).

Next, a technique for incorporating existing physical information (Young rate, Poisson ratio, etc.) corresponding to sensor values such as CT values and MRI values into a biological data model will be described.
FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram for explaining the operation function, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation function. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the configuration.
As described above, the distortion correction unit 104 obtains one outline of the CT image or MRI image from a plurality of medical images obtained by imaging the same target of a living body as a CT image and an MRI image, and places the other image in the outline. The same portions of both images are arranged corresponding to each other (process P1201 in FIG. 12). The segmentation unit 105 extracts a biological part from the CT image or MRI image obtained by the distortion correction unit 104 (step P1202 in FIG. 12). In the CT / MRI image, unique values for the material properties of each tissue called CT values or MRI values are shown as shades of color. The physical property value assigning unit 106 associates the physical property value of the extracted part corresponding to the CT value or the MRI value indicating the biological part extracted by the segmentation unit 105 with the pixel of the target region of the extracted biological part. The physical property value of the part is stored and prepared (process P1203 in FIG. 12, FIG. 13).
At this time, the physical property value table includes information defining the accident contents corresponding to the assumed simulation in the physical property value (process P1203a in FIG. 12). For example, assuming a kidney model, assuming that a part of the kidney is necrotic, the biological extraction technique described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 described above is applied to the necrotic site, and physical properties corresponding to necrosis are applied to the region. Assign a value. For the same kidney, the necrotic portion and the non-necrotic portion reproduce one kidney by the superposition technique described with reference to FIGS.
When the finite element dividing unit 108 generates a biological model from the CT / MRI image, a physical property value is assigned to each element constituting the biological model from the physical property value table 107 corresponding to the CT value / MRI value.

Next, a technique for controlling the scale of model data and maintaining the shape accuracy in consideration of the processing load when generating a biological data model from volume data will be described.
FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram, FIG. 15 is a flowchart, FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the Martin Cube method, and FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining the isosurface determination rule of the present invention together with differences from the conventional method.
The preprocessing unit 109 generates a surface of the biological model by the marching cube method, and generates an internal tetrahedral mesh by an existing method such as an octree method.
The volume data is 3D data generated from a CT image and an MRI image, and has information arranged in a regular grid pattern like pixels of the image. On the other hand, data representing a living body part as a collection of tetrahedral elements is a living body model.
Here, the outline of the marching cube method will be described with reference to FIG. This is a technique for obtaining a boundary with respect to a certain threshold for volume data generated by segmentation and displaying it with polygons. As described above, the volume data is regularly arranged in a grid pattern (the points indicated by the circles in FIG. 16 are filled in (●) indicate points outside the living body region, and are indicated by the circles. The point that is not painted inside (◯) indicates the point in the region of the living body), and generates a boundary line (a boundary surface from the viewpoint of three dimensions) from the information of adjacent points. (It is formed by a line connecting (x) marks in FIG. 16). This boundary line as an output becomes a polygon on the surface that becomes the outline of the living body region.
As shown in FIG. 17, those whose interior is filled with dots (●) indicate points outside the living body area, and those whose interior is not painted with circles (◯) Indicates a point in the region of the living body, and (x) indicates a point on an isosurface, that is, a boundary line. The original data shown in FIG. 17A will be described later when adjacent grid points are different from each other in the area as shown in FIG. 17B (conventional case) and FIG. 17C (in the case of the method of the present invention). The intersection (x) is generated by the method. In FIG. 17 (b), an intersection is generated at the midpoint of the sampling interval, and in FIG. 17 (c), the intersection is determined by the position where the different sign appears.
The sampling unit 1401 receives the extracted image data generated by the segmentation unit 105 and discretely samples the grid points constituting the volume data at a predetermined sampling interval (process P1501 in FIG. 15). This sampling interval can be changed to adjust the mesh size.
The mesh size is the number of tetrahedral elements of the biological model. For the same data, the larger the mesh size, the more detailed the model will be, but the amount of processing will increase accordingly. In the marching cube method, the resolution of volume data as input and the mesh size of the biometric data model as output, that is, the number of tetrahedral elements are basically proportional. If the volume data size is large (resolution is high), a tetrahedron is generated based on the volume data, so that a more detailed tetrahedron (mesh) is generated (that is, the mesh size is increased). Conversely, if the volume data size is small (the resolution is low), the mesh size is small. A model that is as detailed as possible is good. However, if the mesh size is too large, processing cannot be performed in real time. Therefore, when using high-resolution volume data, it is necessary to use input data that has been reduced to some extent. For example, for 512 × 512 data, if the sampling interval is set to 2, data with reduced resolution is generated by skipping data one by one. In this way, the mesh size is adjusted by reducing the resolution of the input volume data in advance.
The boundary search unit 1402 searches the in-vivo / external information of the lattice points discretely sampled and skipped when the in-vivo and in-vivo information indicated by the information of the lattice points sampled by the sampling unit 1401 is different, and changes first. The position is set as the intersection of the boundary between the living body and the living body (process P1502 in FIG. 15).
For example, in FIG. 18, let us consider a case where sampling is performed at 1 and 4 to determine inside or outside the living body and a few data are dropped. If both 1 and 4 are inside or outside, nothing is done (FIG. 18 (a)). If 1 and 4 have different signs (FIG. 18B), there should be a boundary (biological surface) between them, so the side (virtual line connecting grid points in the sampling direction) and the boundary Find the intersection. If the intersections obtained in this way are connected, polygon data on the surface of the living body is completed. In the conventional method, the midpoint is simply used because it is between 1 and 4 (FIG. 18C). In the present invention, when the intersection is created, the intersection is calculated using the information of 2 and 3 skipped by sampling. Four cases as shown in FIGS. 18D to 18G can be considered by combining the skipped 2 and 3. The information is sequentially compared with the information of the grid points adjacent to it from 4, and it is determined whether or not there is an intersection between the grid points having the different code first. In the case of FIG. 18 (g), which is case 4, there are 3 intersections, but since there is no point in dropping sampling, the intersection (between 4 and 3) found first from the search direction (direction from 4 to 1). ). Instead of making the sampling interval constant for all grid points, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the intersection by finding a place where the inside and outside of the grid points skipped in the case of different signs between adjacent samplings change first.
In the normal marching cube method, not a simple binarization, but various values are contained in the lattice points. For example, in the case of white “10” and black “20”, when forming an “isosurface of threshold“ 13 ””, connect “a point where white-black is divided into 3: 7 as an intersection” and connect (Surface) is formed.

Next, when the surface which becomes the outline of the living body region obtained by the boundary search unit 1402 is polygonized, the vertex position of the isosurface data is smoothed by the positions of the peripheral vertices, thereby obtaining the geometrical shape of the model data. A technique for correcting the shape will be described.
As a premise, a living body surface and an internal tetrahedral mesh are generated by an octree method. The living body provided with the generated tetrahedral mesh has unevenness on the surface of the living body so as to give an impression different from that of the actual living body. Therefore, the vertex positions of the isosurface data are smoothed according to the positions of the peripheral vertices, and when the image is visualized, the shape of the organ is visually smooth.
FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram, FIG. 20 is a flowchart, and FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining smoothing. The smoothing means 1901 receives volume data that is isosurface data processed and created by the boundary search means 1402 in FIG. 14, and generates a tetrahedral mesh divided into finite elements. At that time, the smoothing means 1901 performs the following processing on the extension point of the finite element of the data model. That is, from the relative position (x _j −x _i ) between the i-th node and the neighboring node j, the position x _i is corrected by the following equation (process P2001 in FIG. 20).
That is, the equation for moving the position x _i of the i-th node to x _i ^new is:
x _i ^new = x _i + λΣ _j (x _j −x _i )
Here, j is a node in the vicinity of i (j = 1, 2 in FIG. 21), λ is a correction coefficient, and is appropriately determined so that the organ becomes smooth.
In this equation, the amount of correction is large when it is far away from neighboring nodes, and the amount of correction is small when it is not far away.
When the above processing is performed on all the nodes i (process P2002 in FIG. 20), they are arranged at an average position, and as a result, the overall shape is smooth.

Next, a data structure in which a tree structure is constructed with respect to the biological data model in order to quickly perform contact calculation between organs will be described.
The calculation of contact between organs is one of the time-consuming processes in the dynamic calculation of a biological model. Comprehensive calculation of contact between organs takes too much time. For example, in the case of contact calculation of an unstructured model as shown in FIG. 22, all organ combinations such as between the right kidney and the liver, between the left kidney and the liver, and between the right kidney and the left kidney are used. On the other hand, contact determination was necessary.
Therefore, a tree structure as shown in FIG. 23 is constructed for the biological data model. The tree in FIG. 23 has nodes (nodes). The node has terminal nodes 231a, 231b, and 231c, and connection nodes 232a and 232b that integrate these nodes. The terminal nodes 231a, 231b, and 231c are, as auxiliary data, organ models unique to each node as parts constituting a living body in a predetermined range, and geometric models (for example, a simple rectangular parallelepiped, a sphere, etc.) that wrap each organ. Have information. Node computers in charge of motion processing of each node are assigned to the nodes 231a, 231b, 231c at each end, and nodes 231a, 231b, 231c at each end are assigned to the connection nodes 232a, 232b. A host computer that integrates computer processing is assigned. The nodes 231a, 231b, and 231c have information on the right kidney model, the liver model, and the left kidney model, respectively. The nodes 231a and 231b are arranged close to each other based on the actual positional relationship of the organs, and are connected by the connection node 232a. Each node computer in charge of each node 231a, 231b passes information on the boundary model surrounding the right kidney model and liver model to the host computer assigned to the connection node 232a, and receives information on an organ model that is likely to come into contact with the host computer. Also, the node computer in charge of the terminal node 231c passes information on the boundary model surrounding the left kidney model to the host computer in charge of the connection node 232b, and receives information on the right kidney and liver models received via the connection node 232a. Receive. At this time, the connecting node 232a is provided with the right kidney and the liver model of the terminal nodes 231a and 231b to be connected in the same manner as the auxiliary data of the terminal node, and each node is arranged in a tree shape. It is constructed (process P2401 in FIG. 24). The data constructed in a tree shape as described above is stored in the structured data storage unit 2501 as shown in FIG.
A geometric model that wraps each organ can be processed as a simple geometric shape, and can be processed much faster in contact determination than a complex shape such as an actual organ. By using the contact determination based on the simple shape while following the tree, it is possible to narrow down the organs that may contact each other at an early stage and reduce the collision calculation.
The host computer and node computer are processed in parallel. The host computer uses the tree structure to roughly determine which organ is likely to come into contact with which organ. The information is transmitted to the computers connected to the end nodes 231a, 231b, and 231c. These node computers perform collision determination with the received organs of the node computer (FIG. 26). Since the host computer performs these calculations when the node computer is performing deformation processing or drawing processing, the total processing time is reduced.

Next, a technique for distributing the load according to the designated number of processing processors will be described.
The biometric data model processing depends on the number of vertices of the finite elements constituting the data. In order to process data having a large number of vertices, a plurality of processing processors are load-balanced and processed. If the biological data model is arbitrarily divided for load distribution, the number of communication between processing processors increases.
Therefore, in order to perform parallel processing efficiently, the number of vertices of the biological data model is divided as much as possible. Further, in order to reduce the number of communication times, when the biological model is displayed on the monitor screen, the divided planes are prevented from intersecting in the biological model. FIG. 27 shows an example of division, and FIG. 28 shows a functional block diagram. As a result, communication with each other is limited to the adjacent split models. In FIG. 28, 2801a, 2801b, 2801c,... Are processing processors, 2802 is a communication device, and 2803 is a communication line.
The division algorithm is selected from the following three methods, and is processed by the computer division processing means 2901 as shown in FIG. 29 by a computer program.
Method 1. When the number of divisions is ²ⁿ , as shown in FIG. Start with one end and determine the boundary. It is assumed that the number of nodes sandwiched between the boundaries (the number of nodes in the divided model) is n _i , the total number of nodes in the biometric data model is N, and the number of divisions is P. The number of nodes from one end to the i-th boundary b _i is counted (that is, the sum Σn _{i of the} number of nodes). The boundary bi is corrected so that this is proportional to the number of divided nodes. Thereafter, the steps are performed in order. (Fig. 31)
The total number of nodes is 16. A case of dividing into three will be described.
Since the number of nodes in each division model is 5.3, the division model is constructed so as to be approximately five. The division model is decided from the end. As shown in FIG. 32B, when the number of nodes in the boundary is counted, the example illustrated in the figure is “2”. Shift the border a little and count the number of nodes again. Repeat until about five. If the condition is satisfied, the next boundary is given as shown in FIG.
Method 3. Set all boundaries according to the number of divisions. The number of nodes sandwiched between the boundaries (number of nodes in the division model) _ni is counted, and the position of the boundary is corrected from the difference between adjacent nodes (| n _i −n _j |). When the node difference is below a certain threshold (| n _i −n _j | <ε), the process is terminated. (Fig. 33)
The total number of nodes is 16. A case of dividing into three will be described.
Since the number of nodes in each division model is 5.3, the division model is constructed so as to be approximately five. The boundary for the three divisions is set at a position at a slight distance from both ends of the model (FIG. 34 (b)). At this time, for the left boundary, the boundary is adjusted based on the difference in the number of nodes in the adjacent region. Since the left side of the boundary is “2” and the right side is “10”, the boundary is moved to the right side. For the left boundary, the boundary is adjusted from the difference in the number of nodes in the adjacent area. Since the left side of the boundary is “10” and the right side is “4”, the boundary is moved to the left side. Repeat this. As shown in FIG. 34 (c), regarding the left boundary, the left side of the boundary is “5” and the right side is “6”, which is almost the same number. As for the right boundary, the left side of the boundary is “6”, and the right side is “5”.

It is a functional block diagram explaining a biometric data model creation apparatus. It is a functional block diagram of a distortion correction unit. It is a flowchart explaining the technique which obtains a biological cross-sectional image. It is a figure explaining rearrangement of the organization picture of a MRI picture to the outline by CT picture. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of segmentation part. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement function of a segmentation part. It is a functional block diagram which shows a part of segmentation part. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement function of a segmentation part. It is a figure explaining extraction image repair processing by manual setting. It is a figure explaining integration of the extraction part in a slice image unit. It is a functional block diagram explaining physical information provision based on a sensor value. It is a flowchart explaining physical information provision based on a sensor value. It is a block diagram explaining physical information provision based on a sensor value. It is a part functional block diagram of a pre-processing part. It is a flowchart explaining the sampling operation | movement of a pre-processing part. It is a figure explaining a Martin cube method. It is a figure explaining an isosurface determination rule with the difference with the conventional method. It is a figure explaining the determination inside and outside a lattice point. It is a part functional block diagram of a pre-processing part. It is a flowchart explaining smoothing of a pre-processing part. It is a figure explaining smoothing. It is a figure explaining the contact calculation of the model which is not structured. It is a figure explaining the constructed tree structure. It is a flowchart explaining construction of a tree structure. It is a figure of the structured data storage part which stores the data constructed | assembled in the tree form. It is a figure explaining the contact determination process by a tree structure. It is a figure of an example which divided | segmented the biometric data model. It is a functional block diagram explaining connection of processing load distribution. It is a functional block diagram of a division process. It is a figure explaining a division process. It is a figure explaining a division process. It is a figure explaining a division process. It is a figure explaining a division process. It is a figure explaining a division process.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... CT image data file, 102 ... MRI image data file, 103 ... PET image data file, 104 ... Distortion correction part, 105 ... Segmentation part, 106 ... Physical property value provision part, 107 ... Physical property value table, 108 ... Finite element division 109, a pre-processing unit, 110, a tetrahedral dividing unit, 111, a post-processing unit, 112, a structured file.

Claims (2)

When extracting a part of a living body from a medical image obtained by imaging a living body, a point inside the extraction target area is designated as a point of interest, similarity determination with the point of interest is performed on the neighboring pixels, and three-dimensional data is obtained from the medical image data. In the biological data model creation method for creating a model,
A first process in which an extraction start point, extraction target points around the start point, and non-extraction target points are selected by interactive processing on a computer screen, and teacher data generation means provided in the computer generates initial teacher data based on these information When,
The threshold determination means provided in the computer is such that the initial position is a local region centered on the point of interest as an extraction start point, the median value of the extraction target point data set in the extraction determination region as a local region, and the non-existence in the extraction determination region A second step of determining a threshold from internal teacher data consisting of the median value of the extraction target point data set;
A third step in which the attention point updating means provided in the computer determines whether the attention point is a target or a non-target according to the threshold value determined in the second step;
Attention point updating means provided in the computer, a fourth process of updating the median value by adding the determination result of the third process to the determination result data and the teacher data;
The point of interest updating means provided in the computer sets the last point determined as the target region in the local region as a new point of interest, and executes the processes of the second to fourth processes in the local region centered on that point A biometric data model creation method comprising: a fifth step of completing processing when there is no point determined to be the target region within the local region. When extracting a part of a living body from a medical image obtained by imaging a living body, a point inside the extraction target area is designated as a point of interest, similarity determination with the point of interest is performed on the neighboring pixels, and three-dimensional data is obtained from the medical image data. In the biological data model creation device for creating a model,
Teacher data creation means for creating initial teacher data based on the extraction start point selected by interactive processing on the computer screen and information on the extraction target points and non-extraction target points around the start point and updating the median value;
The initial position is the local area centered around the point of interest as the extraction start point, the median value of the extraction target point data set in the extraction determination area as the local area, and the median value of the non-extraction target point data set in the extraction determination area Threshold determining means for determining a threshold from internal teacher data consisting of:
It is determined whether the target point is a target or non-target based on the determined threshold, and the result is added to the determination result data and the teacher data, and the point finally determined as the target region in the local region is a new target point, Biometric data model creation characterized by comprising a point-of-interest updating means for completing processing when processing is performed in a local region centered on that point and there is no point determined to be the target region within the local region apparatus.

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