[A computer tomography assisted method for the automatic detection of region of interest in dynamic kidney images]

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which can be estimated by Gates method with dynamic kidney single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging, is a key indicator of renal function. In this paper, an automatic computer tomography (CT)-assisted detection method of kidney region of interest (ROI) is proposed to achieve the objective and accurate GFR calculation. In this method, the CT coronal projection image and the enhanced SPECT synthetic image are firstly generated and registered together. Then, the kidney ROIs are delineated using a modified level set algorithm. Meanwhile, the background ROIs are also obtained based on the kidney ROIs. Finally, the value of GFR is calculated via Gates method. Comparing with the clinical data, the GFR values estimated by the proposed method were consistent with the clinical reports. This automatic method can improve the accuracy and stability of kidney ROI detection for GFR calculation, especially when the kidney function has been severely damaged.肾小球滤过率（GFR）是评估肾脏功能的重要指标，可采用肾动态显像联合 Gates 法计算获得。针对 GFR 计算问题，本文提出一种计算机断层（CT）图像辅助的肾动态图像感兴趣区（ROI）自动检测方法，以实现客观准确的 GFR 计算。该方法首先获得 CT 冠状面投影图像与单光子发射计算机断层成像（SPECT）的增强合成图像，完成双模态图像配准后，采用改进的水平集方法实现肾脏 ROI 的自动检测并获取本底 ROI，最后利用 Gates 法计算 GFR 值。经临床数据验证，该方法能够自动完成肾脏 GFR 值计算，所得结果与临床报告一致。该方法在消除人工勾画环节的同时，还能提高 ROI 检测的准确性和稳定性，尤其有利于肾功能严重受损时的 GFR 计算。.