A method for automated segmentation of the stomach and its application for navigated diagnosis

In this paper, we propose a method for automated segmentation of gastric segment named Stomap from 3D abdominal X-ray CT images and its application for the navigation-based diagnosis system. The gastric segment enables us to recognize the position in stomach while diagnosing stomach using virtualized endoscope system. It can also be utilized as a criterion of the appropriateness of navigation path. The number of observed time for each segment based on the gastric segment is proposed for the evaluation of navigation path. The result showed that the distribution of observation time and the shape of navigation path correlated each other.