Bronchus Endoscope Simulation System (Virtualized Bronchus Endoscope System) Based on Three Dimensional X-ray CT Images.

概要

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In this paper we describe a virtualized bronchus endoscope simulation system (VBE) which enables to observe inside the bronchus area from three dimensional (3-D) X-ray CT images. This system consists of two major functions (a) automated extraction of bronchus area, and (b) simulation of bronchus endoscope. First, the bronchus area is extracted by a 3D region growing algorithm with the parameters adjusted automatically. This extraction is performed fast by using a 3D painting algorithm. Therefore a user does not need to input bronchus area by hand for bronchus endoscope simulation. Next the endoscope simulation is done by visualizing the inside view of extracted bronchus area and changing the viewpoint and the view direction interactively. In this system, the user can observe any parts of bronchus from any directions, because the user can travel inside bronchus area freely by mouse operation. VBE has several advantages over the real endoscope. It is possible to observe the inside of very thin bronchi, observe without any pain, and measure feature values such as width and length. We applied this system to sixteen cases of real 3-D chest X-ray CT images which include tracheostenosis and tracheal tumor cases, and obtained good results. Furthermore we compared the real endoscope image and a VBE image, and showed the effectiveness of this system.
一般社団法人日本生体医工学会の論文