Recognition of organs in CT-image sequences: a model guided approach.

A method is proposed for segmentation of organs in CT-image sequences. An important feature of the method is the use of search areas to guide the segmentation process. Time consuming, data-directed operations are restricted to these areas, instead of being applied to the whole image. A search area for a particular anatomical structure is determined by constraints, derived from a model of the imaged scene and by results already obtained in the recognition process. The method has been successfully applied on recognition of the spleen in abdominal X-ray CT scans.