JPH06337920A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a picture processor capable of executing the oblique processing of an optionally noticed portion from various angles by rotating a cursor around a rotational center line passing the remarked portion in respect to oblique processing in MPR processing. CONSTITUTION:This picture processor provided with a cross section converting part 6 capable of preparing an oblique picture by using picture data and a monitor 3 capable of displaying the prepared oblique picture is also provided with a cross sectional picture selecting part 7 capable of selecting a prescribed cross sectional picture out of cross sectional pictures read out from a picture data memory 1, a rotational center line setting part 8 capable of setting up a rotational center line passing an optionally noticed portion on the selected cross-sectional picture and an angle calculating part 9 for calculating an angle by which the cross section including the rotational center line is rotated around the center line. The converting part 6 prepares an oblique picture rotated around the rotational center line in each prescribed angle and the oblique picture prepared with the angle is displayed on the monitor 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to X-ray CT images and MRI.
The present invention relates to an image processing device that processes an image or the like, and particularly to an image processing device having an MPR function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an image is taken by an X-ray CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus or the like, an image of a subject to be obtained is basically a sectional image, and it is necessary to grasp a three-dimensional structure only with these sectional images. It may be insufficient. Therefore, three-dimensional display has been conventionally performed by an image processing method such as cross-section conversion display and surface display.

Among these, cross-section conversion display (MPR: Multi-Pl
aner Reconstruction) is an image processing that interpolates image data obtained by gapless multi-slice into three-dimensional data and obtains a cross-sectional image in any direction such as axial image, coronal image, sagittal image, oblique image, etc. Is the way. By using this MPR, for example, a cross section called a cursor can be set on a sagittal image showing the spine, an oblique image can be created with the set cross section, and these can be displayed on a monitor.
It is possible to easily grasp the three-dimensional structure of the diagnosis site.

Here, in order to set the cursor, the cursor is moved to a desired position by inputting means such as a mouse and the cursor is rotated so that the inclination angle of the cursor becomes a desired value. Then, conventionally, it has been performed to rotate the cursor with a center line passing through a point where the axial surface, the coronal surface and the sagittal surface are mixed as a rotation axis. However, it has not been rotated about a rotation center line passing through an arbitrary region of interest.

[0005]

In the oblique treatment in the MPR treatment which has been widely used in the field of medical diagnosis, it is more accurate if an arbitrary attention site can be observed from various angles of 360 degrees. And it has been requested to make this possible because it allows a quicker diagnosis.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to rotate a cursor around a rotation center line passing through an arbitrary target region in the oblique processing in the MPR processing, An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device capable of oblique processing of a region of interest from various angles.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following structure of an image processing apparatus. That is, in an image processing apparatus including an image data memory capable of storing three-dimensional image data, a cross-section conversion unit capable of generating an oblique image using the three-dimensional image data, and a monitor capable of displaying the generated oblique image. , A cross-sectional image selection unit capable of selecting a predetermined cross-sectional image from the cross-sectional images read out from the image data memory, and a rotation center line setting capable of setting a rotation center line passing through an arbitrary region of interest on the selected cross-sectional image A section and an angle calculation section for calculating an angle at which a cross section including the rotation center line rotates about this rotation center line as an axis, and the cross section conversion section rotates by a predetermined angle about this rotation center line as an axis. An oblique image is created, and the oblique image created at that angle is displayed on the monitor.

Further, in this image processing apparatus, when the cross-section conversion unit creates an oblique image, the oblique image is automatically rotated by a predetermined angle about the rotation center line as an axis. And

[0009]

According to the above configuration, in order to create an oblique image in the MPR processing, first, a predetermined cross-sectional image, for example, a coronal image showing the head is selected, and an arbitrary attention on the selected cross-sectional image is selected. Set the rotation center line that passes through the part. Then, the cursor image is created by rotating the cursor about the set rotation center line by a predetermined angle, and the oblique image created at that angle is displayed on the monitor. Thus, the oblique image can be obtained by rotating the image by a predetermined angle. Therefore, an image related to the region of interest can be easily obtained, and the doctor can make a diagnosis accurately and quickly.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, basically, an image data memory 1 for storing an image, an arithmetic unit 2 for performing MPR processing such as creating an oblique image using the image data, a created oblique image, etc. It is composed of a monitor 3 for displaying, an input device 4 for designating a guide line and a sectional position, and a CPU 5 for controlling each of these devices. The arithmetic unit 2 is provided with a cross-section conversion unit 6 for creating an oblique image using the image data. The cross-section conversion unit 6 has a predetermined cross-sectional image read from the image data memory 1. Section image selection unit 7 that can select a section image
And a rotation center line setting unit 8 capable of setting a rotation center line passing through an arbitrary region of interest on the selected cross-sectional image, and an angle at which a cross section including the rotation center line rotates about this rotation center line as an axis. The angle calculation unit 9 is connected. The calculation for the MPR processing may be performed by using the CPU 5, but it is better to provide the dedicated calculation device 2 for speeding up. The input device 4 may be a mouse, a trackball, a keyboard, or the like.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, when the image processing is started 10, first, the cross-sectional image selection unit 7 selects 11 a cross-sectional image for creating an oblique image. FIG. 3 shows an example in which the coronal image 21, the axial image 22, and the sagittal image 23 of the head are displayed on the monitor 3, and the coronal image 21 is selected as the oblique image creating cross section from these cross sectional images. Is.

Next, the rotation center line setting unit 8 sets 12 a rotation center line passing through an arbitrary site of interest on the selected cross-sectional image, that is, the coronal image 21 of the head. As shown in FIG. 3, the rotation center line 24 is designated so as to pass through the region of interest of the coronal image 21. This is designated by a mouse or the like provided in the input device 4.

When the rotation center line is set, next, the rotation angle of the cursor is set 13 with the rotation center line as an axis. The rotation angle is set by the input device 4, and when the set value is input, the angle calculation unit 9 rotates the cursor so that the angle has the value. As the reference (starting point) of the rotation angle, the plane perpendicular to the paper surface of the coronal image 21 shown in FIG. 3 is set as the first cursor position. Then, the value of the set rotation angle can be displayed on the monitor 3 so that it can be known which position is being processed and it helps to identify the position. When the rotation angle is set, the image data is read from the image data memory 1, and the oblique image on the set angle is read by the cross-section conversion unit 6 using these data.
Create 14 with.

Next, the created oblique image 25 is displayed 16 on the monitor 3 as shown in FIG. After observing the displayed oblique image 25, it is determined 16 whether or not it is necessary to change the rotational angle of the cursor around the set rotation center line as an axis to create the oblique image. If it is necessary (YES), the process proceeds to the cursor rotation angle setting 13, and the above steps 13 to 16 are repeated. If it is not necessary (NO), the image processing is ended 17

Further, when it is determined that the MPR processing should be performed while changing the setting of the rotation center line, the processing may be advanced to the rotation center line setting 12 without ending 17 the image processing.

Further, the rotation angle setting 13 may not be performed each time, but the rotation angle may be automatically rotated by a predetermined angle. At this time, the movement width of the rotation angle, that is, a predetermined angle may be designated. For example, an oblique image is created every 30 degrees from the reference (start point) of the rotation angle so as to obtain 12 oblique images continuously, or continuously created every 20 degrees to generate 18 oblique images. And so on.

Furthermore, in the case where the oblique image is continuously obtained by automatically rotating it by a predetermined angle, (1) the oblique image is rotated clockwise from the starting point so that the rotation direction can be designated in advance. Obtaining mode (2) The operability may be widened by providing a mode in which the oblique image is rotated counterclockwise from the starting point position to obtain an oblique image.

Further, with respect to the oblique image thus obtained, three orthogonal cross sections are displayed with this image as a reference, so that the same processing as the MPR up to now can be performed on a desired angle. It will be possible.

By performing image processing as in the present embodiment, for example, when a tumor is present in the brain, it becomes possible to view the tumor from various angles. It is possible to decide the direction to be performed, determine where the surgery should be performed from near, and whether there is a large blood vessel in the vicinity, etc., and it is possible to reduce the burden on the doctor's diagnosis and surgery plan. Note that the present invention is not limited to MPR, and can be applied to an image obtained by 3DFT of MRI, for example.

[0020]

As described above, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, in oblique processing in MPR processing, it is possible to observe an arbitrary desired site from various angles of 360 degrees. Therefore, there is also an effect that an image related to the region of interest can be easily obtained and a doctor can make a diagnosis accurately and quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a hardware configuration of an image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram for explaining the operation of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 image data memory 2 arithmetic unit 3 monitor 4 input device 5 CPU 6 cross-section conversion unit 7 cross-section image selection unit 8 rotation center line setting unit 9 angle calculation unit 21 coronal image 22 axial image 23 sagittal image 24 rotation center Line 25 Oblique Image

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G06F 15/72 450 K 9192-5L

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image including an image data memory capable of storing three-dimensional image data, a cross-section conversion unit capable of generating an oblique image using the three-dimensional image data, and a monitor capable of displaying the generated oblique image. In the processing device,
A cross-sectional image selection unit capable of selecting a predetermined cross-sectional image among the cross-sectional images read out from the image data memory, and a rotation center line setting unit capable of setting a rotation center line passing through an arbitrary attention site on the selected cross-sectional image. And an angle calculation unit that calculates an angle at which a cross section including the rotation center line rotates about the rotation center line as an axis, and the cross section conversion unit rotates the oblique unit by a predetermined angle about the rotation center line as an axis. An image processing apparatus characterized in that an image is created and an oblique image created at that angle is displayed on a monitor. 2. The cross-section conversion unit according to claim 1, when the oblique image is created, it is automatically rotated by a predetermined angle about the rotation center line as an axis to create the oblique image. Image processing device.