Medical image processing apparatus and medical image processing method

Abstract

A medical image processing apparatus is configured as follows. Namely the apparatus is provided with a first image generation unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on X-ray transmission data to generate a contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data including a figure of a blood vessel in a subject having a contrast media injected thereto, a second image generation unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate a human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data including a figure of a human anatomy in the subject having no contrast media injected thereto, a black-and-white reverse processing unit which executes black-and-white reverse processing with respect to the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate black-and-white reversed three-dimensional image data, and a combination processing unit which combines the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the black-and-white reversed three-dimensional image data to generate combined image data.

1 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes X-ray transmission data collected by using rotatably supported X-ray photographing unit, comprising:
 a first image generation unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate a contrast, blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data including a figure of a blood vessel in a subject having a contrast media injected thereto;   a second image generation unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate a human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data including a figure of a human anatomy in the subject having no contrast media injected thereto;   a black-and-white reverse processing unit which executes black-and-white reverse processing with respect to the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate black-and-white reversed three-dimensional image data; and   a combination processing unit which combines the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the black-and-white reversed three-dimensional image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the black-and-white reverse processing unit includes a non-observation target region deletion unit which attenuates pixel values in regions other than a region showing a brain tissue in the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the black-and-white reverse processing unit includes a non-observation target region deletion unit which attenuates pixel values in regions other than a region showing an intracranial part in the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         4 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes X-ray transmission data collected by using rotatably supported X-ray photographing unit, comprising;
 a first image generation unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate a contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data including a figure of a blood vessel in a subject having a contrast media injected thereto;   a second image generation unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate a human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data including a figure of a human anatomy in the subject having no contrast media injected thereto;   an image processing unit which generates low-blood current region figure image data indicating a low-blood current region based on the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data; and   a combination processing unit which combines the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the low-blood current region figure image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         5 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes X-ray transmission data collected by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism, comprising:
 a storage unit which stores a plurality of pieces of human anatomy figure image data collected by photographing a subject before the injection of a contrast media at a plurality of projection angles and a plurality of pieces of contrast image data collected by photographing the subject after the injection of the contrast media at the plurality of projection angles;   a subtraction unit which subtracts the contrast image data from the human anatomy figure image data, which are pieces of image data having the same projection angle concerning the photography, to generate contrast blood vessel figure data;   a first reconfiguration unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the plurality of pieces of contrast blood vessel figure data generated by the subtraction unit to create contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data;   a second reconfiguration unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the plurality of pieces of human anatomy figure data to generate human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data;   a black-and-white reverse processing unit which executes black-and-white reverse processing with respect to the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data; and   a combination processing unit which combines the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 5 , including a non-region-of-interest deletion unit which identifies an observation target region in the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data and deletes regions other than a region corresponding to the observation target region in the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the non-region-of-interest deletion unit identifies the observation target region based on pixel values in the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data and attenuates pixel values of regions other than a region corresponding to the observation target region in the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein a pixel value of the observation target region is a pixel value indicative of a soft tissue level. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the non-region-of-interest deletion unit includes a non-region-of-interest deletion unit which identifies an observation target region based on a CT value in a CT image and deletes regions other than a region corresponding to the observation target region in the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         10 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes data collected by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism, comprising:
 a storage unit which stores a plurality of pieces of human anatomy figure image data collected by photographing a subject before the injection of a contrast media at a plurality of projection angles and a plurality of pieces of contrast image data collected by photographing the subject after the injection of the contrast media at the plurality of projection angles;   a CT image storage unit which stores CT image data;   a subtraction unit which performs subtraction with respect to the contrast image data and the human anatomy figure image data which are pieces of image data having the same projection angle concerning the photography to generate contrast blood vessel figure data;   a reconfiguration unit which executes reconfiguration processing based on the plurality of pieces of contrast blood vessel figure data generated by the subtraction unit to generate contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data, and executes reconfiguration processing based on the plurality of pieces of human anatomy figure data to generate human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data;   a reverse processing unit which executes black-and-white reverse processing with respect to the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate a non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data;   a displacement correction unit which detects displacement based on the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data and the CT image data, and identifies and corrects three-dimensional displacement of the CT image data and the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data based on a result of the detection; and   a combination processing unit which combines the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data and the displacement corrected CT image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus according to  claim 10 , including a non-observation target region deletion unit which extracts a part corresponding to an intracranial part in the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data or the CT image data, estimates a brain structure from the extracted cranial model, and attenuates pixel values of regions other than a region showing the intracranial part in the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data based on the estimated brain structure. 
     
     
         12 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes X-ray transmission data collected based on photography by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism at a plurality of projection angles, comprising:
 a storage unit which stores first human anatomy figure image data including a non-contrast human anatomy figure and first contrast image data including a contrast blood vessel figure which are collected by the X-ray rotational photographing mechanism before a predetermined change in situation, and second human anatomy figure data including a non-contrast human anatomy and second contrast image data including a contrast blood vessel figure which are collected by the X-ray rotational photographing mechanism after the predetermined change in situation;   a first subtraction unit which subtracts the first contrast image data from the first human anatomy figure image data, which are pieces of image data having the same projection angle concerning the photography, to generate first contrast blood vessel figure data, and subtracts the second contrast image data from the second human anatomy figure image data, which are pieces of image data having the same projection angle concerning the photography, to generate second contrast blood vessel figure data;   a reconfiguration unit which generates first contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the first contrast blood vessel image data, generates second contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the second contrast blood vessel figure data, generates first human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data based on the first human anatomy figure image data, and generates second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data based on the second human anatomy figure image data;   a displacement correction unit which identifies displacement of the subject, based on the first human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data and the second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data, and corrects displacement of the first contrast blood vessel three-dimensional image data or the second contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the identified displacement in such a manner a three-dimensional coordinate of the first contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data becomes equal to that of the second contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data;   a second subtraction unit which performs subtraction with respect to the first contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data and the second contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data which are corrected by the displacement correction unit to have the same three-dimensional coordinate, thereby generating blood current change figure three-dimensional image data; and   a combination processing unit which combines the blood current change figure three-dimensional image data with the first human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data or the second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data having the same three-dimensional coordinate as that of the blood current change figure three-dimensional image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         13 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes X-ray transmission data collected based on photography by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism at a plurality of projection angles, comprising:
 a storage unit which stores first human anatomy figure/contrast blood vessel figure image data collected by the X-ray rotational photographing mechanism before a predetermined change in situation, and second human anatomy figure/contrast blood vessel figure image data and human anatomy figure image data collected by the X-ray rotational photographing mechanism after the predetermined change in situation;   a reconfiguration unit which generates first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure image data, and generates second human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the second human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure image data;   a displacement correction unit which identifies displacement of a subject based on the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data and the second human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data, and corrects displacement of the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data or the second human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the identified displacement;   a second subtraction unit which performs subtraction with respect to the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data and the second human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data which are corrected by the displacement correction unit to have the same three-dimensional coordinate, and thereby generates blood current change figure image data; and   a combination processing unit which combines the blood current change figure image data with the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data or the second human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data having the same three-dimensional coordinate as that of the blood current change figure image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         14 . A medical image processing apparatus which processes X-ray transmission data collected based on photography by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism at a plurality of projection angles, comprising:
 a storage unit which stores first human anatomy figure/contrast blood vessel figure image data collected by the X-ray rotational photographing mechanism before a predetermined change in situation, and a plurality of pieces of second human anatomy figure/contrast blood vessel figure image data and human anatomy figure image data collected by the X-ray rotational photographing mechanism after the predetermined change in situation;   a first subtraction unit which subtracts the second contrast, image data from the second human anatomy figure image data, which are pieces of image data having the same projection angle concerning the photography, to generate second contrast blood vessel figure data;   a reconfiguration unit which generates first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure image data, and generates second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data based on the second human anatomy figure image data;   a displacement correction unit which identifies displacement of a subject based on the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data and the second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data, and corrects displacement of the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data based on the identified displacement;   a second subtraction unit which performs subtraction with respect to the first human anatomy/contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data and the second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data which are subjected to displacement correction by the displacement correction unit to have the same three-dimensional coordinate, and thereby generates first contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data;   a third subtraction unit which performs subtraction with respect to the first contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data and the second contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate blood current change figure image data; and   combination processing unit which combines the blood current change figure image data with the second human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         15 . A medical image processing method for processing X-ray transmission data collected by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism, comprising:
 a first image generation step of executing reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data including a contrast blood figure image;   a second image generation step of executing reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to reconfigure human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data including a non-contrast human anatomy figure;   a reverse image processing step of executing black-and-white reverse processing with respect to the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate reversed image data; and   a combination processing step of combining the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the reversed image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         16 . A medical image processing method for processing X-ray transmission data collected by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism, comprising:
 a first image generation step of executing reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data including a contrast blood vessel figure;   a second image generation step of executing reconfiguration processing based on the X-ray transmission data to generate human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data including a non-contrast human anatomy image;   an image processing step of generating low-blood current image data indicative of a low-blood current region based on the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data; and   a combination processing step of combining the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the low-blood current image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         17 . A medical image processing method for processing X-ray transmission data collected by an X-ray rotational photographing mechanism, comprising:
 a storage step of storing a plurality of pieces of human anatomy figure image data collected by photographing a subject before the injection of a contrast media at a plurality of projection angles and a plurality of pieces of contrast image data collected by photographing the subject after the injection of the contrast media at the plurality of projection angles;   a subtraction step of subtracting the contrast image data from the human anatomy figure image data, which are pieces of image data having the same projection angle concerning the photography, to generate contrast blood vessel figure data;   a first reconfiguration step of executing reconfiguration processing based on the plurality of pieces of contrast blood vessel figure data generated at the subtraction step to generate contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data;   a second reconfiguration step of executing reconfiguration processing based on the plurality of pieces of human anatomy figure data to generate human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data;   a reverse processing step of executing black-and-white reverse processing with respect to the contrast blood vessel figure three-dimensional image data to generate non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data; and   a combination processing step of combining the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data with the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data to generate combined image data.   
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 17 , including a non-region-of-interest deletion step of identifying an observation target region in the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data generated at the second reconfiguration step and deleting regions other than a region corresponding to the observation target region in the non-blood-current three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein, at the non-region-of-interest deletion step, an observation target region is identified based on pixel values in the human anatomy figure three-dimensional image data and pixel values in regions other than a region corresponding to the observation target region are attenuated in the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein a pixel value in the observation target region is a pixel value indicative of a soft tissue level. 
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein, at the non-region-of-interest deletion step, an observation target region is identified based on a CT value in a CT image and regions other than a region corresponding to the observation target region are deleted in the non-blood-current figure three-dimensional image data.