title: Automatic rectum limit detection by anatomical markers correlation.
abstract: Several diseases take place at the end of the digestive system. Many of them can be diagnosed by means of different medical imaging modalities together with computer aided detection (CAD) systems. These CAD systems mainly focus on the complete segmentation of the digestive tube. However, the detection of limits between different sections could provide important information to these systems. In this paper we present an automatic method for detecting the rectum and sigmoid colon limit using a novel global curvature analysis over the centerline of the segmented digestive tube in different imaging modalities. The results are compared with the gold standard rectum upper limit through a validation scheme comprising two different anatomical markers: the third sacral vertebra and the average rectum length. Experimental results in both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography colonography (CTC) acquisitions show the efficacy of the proposed strategy in automatic detection of rectum limits. The method is intended for application to the rectum segmentation in MRI for geometrical modeling and as contextual information source in virtual colonoscopies and CAD systems.
authors.affiliation: CIFASIS, French Argentine International Center for Information and Systems Sciences, UAM (France)/UNR-CONICET (Argentina), Bv. 27 de Febrero 210 Bis, 2000 Rosario, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. Electronic address: namias@cifasis-conicet.gov.ar.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Namías
authors.affiliation: Instituto PLADEMA, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Tandil, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: D'Amato
authors.affiliation: Instituto PLADEMA, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Tandil, Argentina; Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Prov. de Buenos Aires (CIC-PBA), Argentina.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: del Fresno
authors.affiliation: Instituto PLADEMA, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Tandil, Argentina; Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), Argentina.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vénere
mesh_terms: D059925:Anatomic Landmarks / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012809:Colon, Sigmoid / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D023881:Colonography, Computed Tomographic / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D012007:Rectum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: Anatomical markers; Colon; Computed tomography; Magnetic resonance imaging; Rectum