Manufacture of the Serially Sectioned Images of the Whole Body (Third Report: Methods for Manufacture of the Segmented Images, Coronal Segmented Images, and Sagittal Segmented Images)

Abstract

While three dimensional (3D) images of the whole body can be reconstructed by using the serially sectioned images, 3D image of each anatomical structure can be reconstructed by using the segmented images. In this research, outlines of skin, bones, liver. lungs. kidneys, urinary bladder, heart, and brain in the anatomical Images were decided to segment, and luminal outlines of digestive tract, respiratory tract, and arteries were decided to segment too. On the Adobe Photoshop, selections were semiautomatically drawn along outlines of the anatomical structures and semiautomatically corrected using magnetic lasso tool. Successively. selections were manually corrected either using lasso tool or through work path. The selections were filled with colors to make segmented images. By stacking rows and columns of the segmented images, coronal and sagittal segmented images were made. The coronal and sagittal segmented images were observed to find incorrect segmented images, which were revised. 8.507 segmented images with 0.2 mm intervals, 3,040×2.008 resolution, 0.2mm pixel size, and 8 bits color depth were achieved, so that file size of 1 segmented image and 8,507 segmented images was 5.8 Mbytes and 48.1 Gbytes, respectively These segmented images will be the basis for the development of 3D images of the anatomical structures and software of virtual dissection and virtual endoscopy, which are helpful in studying anatomy and endoscopy.