Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

The image processing method according to the invention includes a step for the acquisition, by means of an ultrasound transducer, of a digitized echographic image of a structure which is substantially not transparent to the ultrasound waves, and a step for the extraction of contour points of said structure. In order to automate the extraction of points, the method includes sub-steps for the detection, in the columns of points of the digitized echographic image, of points which locally have a maximum intensity along each column, for the chaining of points detected from one column to another in a predetermined vicinity, and for selecting chains in the digitized echographic image by determining the chain nearest to the ultrasound transducer as being the contour of said structure. The device according to the invention carries out a method for the simultaneous representation, during the operation, of a high-resolution pre-surgery image and virtual operating tools which are superinposed in this image, together with their current location and orientation as determined in a marking system as a result of the processing of the echographic image.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim