This paper presents a two-step, semi-automated method for reconstructing a three-dimensional (3D) shape of the prostate from a 3D transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) image. While the method has been developed for prostate ultrasound imaging, it can potentially be applicable to any other organ of the body and other imaging modalities. The proposed method takes as input a 3D TRUS image and generates a watertight 3D surface model of the prostate. In the first step, the system lets the user visualize and navigate through the input volumetric image by displaying cross sectional views oriented in arbitrary directions. The user then draws partial/full contours on selected cross sectional views. In the second step, the method automatically generates a watertight 3D surface of the prostate by fitting a deformable spherical template to the set of user-specified contours. Since the method allows the user to select the best cross-sectional directions and draw only clearly recognizable partial or full contours, the user can avoid time-consuming and inaccurate guesswork on where prostate contours are located. By avoiding the usage of noisy, incomprehensible portions of the TRUS image, the proposed method yields more accurate prostate shapes than conventional methods that demand complete cross-sectional contours selected manually, or automatically using an image processing tool. Our experiments confirmed that a 3D watertight surface of the prostate can be generated within five minutes even from a volumetric image with a high level of speckles and shadow noises.

中文翻译：

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从3D TRUS图像进行交互式前列腺形状重建。

本文提出了一种两步，半自动的方法，用于从3D经直肠超声（TRUS）图像重建前列腺的三维（3D）形状。尽管该方法已经开发用于前列腺超声成像，但它可能潜在地适用于身体的任何其他器官和其他成像方式。所提出的方法将3D TRUS图像作为输入并生成前列腺的水密3D表面模型。第一步，系统通过显示面向任意方向的横截面视图，使用户可视化并浏览输入的体积图像。然后，用户在选定的横截面上绘制部分/全部轮廓。第二步 该方法通过将可变形的球形模板拟合到用户指定的轮廓集来自动生成前列腺的水密3D表面。由于该方法允许用户选择最佳横截面方向并仅绘制清晰可辨的局部或完整轮廓，因此用户可以避免费时且不准确的猜测前列腺轮廓的位置。通过避免使用TRUS图像的嘈杂，难以理解的部分，与要求手动或使用图像处理工具自动选择完整横截面轮廓的常规方法相比，所提出的方法可产生更准确的前列腺形状。我们的实验证实，即使从具有高水平斑点和阴影噪声的体积图像中，也可以在五分钟内生成前列腺的3D水密表面。