US-12622663-B2 - Standard blood vessel generation device, blood vessel evaluation device, standard blood vessel generation program, blood vessel evaluation program, standard blood vessel generation method, and blood vessel evaluation method

US12622663B2US 12622663 B2US12622663 B2US 12622663B2US-12622663-B2

Abstract

A standard blood vessel generation device specifies, for each subject, a blood vessel region in which a blood vessel is depicted in an image, derives a feature line that connects feature points included in a plurality of figures included in the blood vessel region and that is along the blood vessel region, specifies a branch point on the feature line, disposes division points for line division on a line with a start point being one of two adjacent branch points and an end point being the other branch point, executes, for each set of division points having the same order counted from the start point in a plurality of the subjects, a process of calculating a statistic amount of coordinates for the set of the division points and setting a point whose coordinates are equal to the statistic amount as a standard point, and a process of setting a dimension of a predetermined site in the figure including the standard point and included in the blood vessel region as a standard diameter, and generates a standard blood vessel that is a blood vessel whose diameter at the standard point is the standard diameter and that is along a standard line connecting a plurality of the standard points.

Inventors

Hitomi Anzai
Ko Kitamura
Shunji MUGIKURA
Naoko Mori
Makoto Ohta

Assignees

TOHOKU UNIVERSITY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20210609
Priority Date: 20200609

Claims (12)

1 . A standard blood vessel generation device comprising: a blood vessel region specifying unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of specifying a blood vessel region in which a blood vessel of the subject is depicted in an image in which the blood vessel of the subject is depicted; a feature line deriving unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of deriving a feature line that connects feature points included in each of a plurality of figures included in the blood vessel region and that is along the blood vessel region; a branch point specifying unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of specifying a branch point of the feature line; a division point disposing unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of disposing division points for line division on a line with a start point being one of two adjacent branch points on the feature line and an end point being the other branch point; and a standard blood vessel generation unit configured to execute, for each set of the division points having the same order counted from the start point to the end point in a plurality of the subjects, a process of calculating a statistic amount of coordinates for the set of the division points and setting a point whose coordinates are equal to the statistic amount as a standard point, and a process of setting a dimension of a predetermined site in the figure including the standard point and included in the blood vessel region as a standard diameter, and generate data indicating a three-dimensional standard blood vessel that is a virtual blood vessel whose diameter at the standard point is the standard diameter and that is along a standard line connecting a plurality of the standard points.
2 . The standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 , wherein the blood vessel region specifying unit is configured to execute the process of specifying the blood vessel region in which the blood vessel of the subject is depicted in the image subjected to registration with respect to a reference image having a reference coordinate system.
3 . The standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 , wherein the feature line deriving unit is configured to execute the process of deriving the feature line connecting centers of a plurality of spheres inscribed in the blood vessel region.
4 . The standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 , wherein the division point disposing unit is configured to execute the process of disposing the division points on the line for equally dividing the line.
5 . The standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 , wherein the standard blood vessel generation unit is configured to generate, as the three-dimensional standard blood vessel, the data indicating the virtual blood vessel having the diameter at the standard point equal to a diameter of a sphere inscribed in the blood vessel region.
6 . The standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a feature line classification unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of determining a category to which a connection structure of the feature line depicted in the image belongs, based on a connection relation between the branch points on the feature line, wherein the division point disposing unit is configured to execute the process of disposing the division points on the line for at least two blood vessels determined to belong to the same category by the feature line classification unit, and the standard blood vessel generation unit is configured to execute the process of generating the data indicating the three-dimensional standard blood vessel based on at least two blood vessels determined to belong to the same category by the feature line classification unit.
7 . The standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 6 , further comprising: an end point specifying unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of specifying an end point of the feature line, wherein the feature line classification unit is configured to execute, for each subject, the process of determining the category to which the blood vessel depicted in the image belongs, based on a connection relation between the end point of the feature line specified by the end point specifying unit and the nearest branch point or other end point on the feature line.
8 . A system comprising the standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 and a blood vessel evaluation device, wherein the subject is a subject suffering from a disease or a healthy subject, and wherein a blood vessel of the subject suffering from the disease is evaluated based on the standard line and the standard diameter of the three dimensional standard blood vessel generated by the standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 by comparing the blood vessel of the subject suffering from the disease with a standard blood vessel generated based on images from a plurality of the healthy subjects.
9 . A non-transitory storage medium storing a program causing a computer to implement: executing, for each subject, a process of specifying a blood vessel region in which a blood vessel of the subject is depicted in an image in which the blood vessel of the subject is depicted; executing, for each subject, a process of deriving a feature line that connects feature points included in each of a plurality of figures included in the blood vessel region and that is along the blood vessel region; executing, for each subject, a process of specifying a branch point of the feature line; executing, for each subject, a process of disposing division points for line division on a line with a start point being one of two adjacent branch points on the feature line and an end point being the other branch point; and executing, for each set of the division points having the same order counted from the start point to the end point in a plurality of the subjects, a process of calculating a statistic amount of coordinates for the set of the division points and setting a point whose coordinates are equal to the statistic amount as a standard point, and a process of setting a dimension of a predetermined site in the figure including the standard point and included in the blood vessel region as a standard diameter, and generating data indicating a three-dimensional standard blood vessel that is a virtual blood vessel whose diameter at the standard point is the standard diameter and that is along a standard line connecting a plurality of the standard points.
10 . A non-transitory storage medium storing a program, wherein the subject is a subject suffering from a disease or a healthy subject, causing a computer to implement: evaluating a blood vessel of the subject suffering from the disease based on the standard line and the standard diameter of the three-dimensional standard blood vessel generated by the standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 by comparing the blood vessel of the subject suffering from the disease with a standard blood vessel generated based on images from a plurality of the healthy subjects.
11 . A standard blood vessel generation method comprising: a blood vessel region specifying step of executing, for each subject, a process of specifying a blood vessel region in which a blood vessel of the subject is depicted in an image in which the blood vessel of the subject is depicted; a feature line deriving step of executing, for each subject, a process of deriving a feature line that connects feature points included in each of a plurality of figures included in the blood vessel region and that is along the blood vessel region; a branch point specifying step of executing, for each subject, a process of specifying a branch point of the feature line; a division point disposing step of executing, for each subject, a process of disposing division points for line division on a line with a start point being one of two adjacent branch points on the feature line and an end point being the other branch point; and a standard blood vessel generation step of executing, for each set of the division points having the same order counted from the start point to the end point in a plurality of the subjects, a process of calculating a statistic amount of coordinates for the set of the division points and setting a point whose coordinates are equal to the statistic amount as a standard point, and a process of setting a dimension of a predetermined site in the figure including the standard point and included in the blood vessel region as a standard diameter, and generating data indicating a three-dimensional standard blood vessel that is a virtual blood vessel whose diameter at the standard point is the standard diameter and that is along a standard line connecting a plurality of the standard points.
12 . A blood vessel evaluation method, wherein the subject is a subject suffering from a disease or a healthy subject, the method comprising: evaluating a blood vessel of the subject suffering from the disease is based on the standard line and the standard diameter of the three-dimensional standard blood vessel generated by the standard blood vessel generation device according to claim 1 by comparing the blood vessel of the subject suffering from the disease with a standard blood vessel generated based on images from a plurality of the healthy subjects.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is the U.S. National Stage entry of International Application No. PCT/JP2021/021889 filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty on Jun. 9, 2021, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-100391 filed on Jun. 9, 2020, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a standard blood vessel generation device, a blood vessel evaluation device, a standard blood vessel generation program, a blood vessel evaluation program, a standard blood vessel generation method, and a blood vessel evaluation method. BACKGROUND ART In the related art, it has been pointed out that there is a disease that changes a shape of a blood vessel, a disease caused by a change in blood flow due to a change in a shape of a blood vessel, and the like. A technique for quantitatively evaluating a shape of a blood vessel is required to advance diagnosis, prevention, research, and the like of these diseases. An example of such a technique is a quantitative analysis apparatus for a blood vessel image disclosed in PTL 1. The quantitative analysis apparatus for a blood vessel image includes a designation unit, a division unit, a profile direction determination unit, an edge extraction unit, a center line determination unit, and an analysis unit. The designation unit designates a blood vessel to be analyzed on the blood vessel image. The division unit divides a blood vessel into a plurality of parts. The profile direction determination unit determines a profile direction based on position information on the divided blood vessel. The edge extraction unit extracts a blood vessel edge of the blood vessel to be analyzed based on the profile direction determined by the profile direction determination unit. The center line determination unit determines a center line from the blood vessel edge extracted by the edge extraction unit. The analysis unit performs a quantitative analysis of the blood vessel to be analyzed based on data of the blood vessel edge extracted by the edge extraction unit and the center line determined by the center line determination unit. CITATION LIST Patent Literature PTL 1: JP-A-08-280655 However, the quantitative analysis apparatus for a blood vessel image can specify a blood vessel image of an object, but cannot specify a degree of deviation of a shape of a blood vessel of the object from a shape of a blood vessel of a healthy person. In addition, since there is a personal difference in a shape of a blood vessel, it is necessary to determine the blood vessel of the healthy person that can be a reference in specifying the degree, but the quantitative analysis apparatus for a blood vessel image does not specify the blood vessel image of the object by using such a reference. SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a standard blood vessel generation device, a standard blood vessel generation program, and a standard blood vessel generation method that can generate a standard blood vessel, which is a reference blood vessel suitable for specifying a shape of a blood vessel, and to provide a blood vessel evaluation device, a blood vessel evaluation program, and a blood vessel evaluation method that can more accurately evaluate a shape of a blood vessel of an object using the standard blood vessel. Solution to Problem A standard blood vessel generation device according to one aspect of the invention includes: a blood vessel region specifying unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of specifying a blood vessel region in which a blood vessel of the subject is depicted in an image in which the blood vessel of the subject is depicted; a feature line deriving unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of deriving a feature line that connects feature points included in each of a plurality of figures included in the blood vessel region and that is along the blood vessel region; a branch point specifying unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of specifying a branch point of the feature line; a division point disposing unit configured to execute, for each subject, a process of disposing division points for line division on a line with a start point being one of two adjacent branch points on the feature line and an end point being the other branch point; and a standard blood vessel generation unit configured to execute, for each set of the division points, a process of calculating a statistic amount of coordinates for the set of the division points having the same order counted from the start point to the end point in a plurality of the subjects and setting a point whose coordinates are equal to the statistic amount as a standard point, and a process of setting a dimension of a predetermined site in the figure including the standard point and included in the blood vessel region as a standard diameter, and generate data indicat