Anatomical characteristic position detecting system, and object structure measurement system

1. An anatomical characteristic position detecting system comprising:

a shape information obtaining means which obtains shape information for use at least in generating an artificial image corresponding to an input medical image of an object, and

an anatomical characteristic position detecting means which detects an anatomical characteristic position of the object on the basis of the shape information obtained by the shape information obtaining means,

wherein the obtaining of the shape information comprises:

determining an average shape based on a plurality of radiation images of objects substantially similar to the object in the input medical image,

determining eigenvectors for deforming the average shape, wherein the eigenvectors are based on the average shape and the plurality of radiation images of the objects substantially similar to the object in the input medical image,

extracting data corresponding to a shape of the object in the input medical image,

determining a parameter based on at least a portion of the data extracted from the object in the input medical image such that a shape of the artificial image approximates the extracted data, and

estimating the shape information based on the determined parameter, the determined average shape and the determined eigenvectors.

2. An object structure measurement system comprising:

a shape information obtaining means which obtains shape information for use at least in generating an artificial image corresponding to an input medical image of an object,

an anatomical characteristic position detecting means which detects an anatomical characteristic position of the object on the basis of the shape information obtained by the shape information obtaining means, and

a measurement means which measures a structural physical value of the object on the basis of the anatomical characteristic position of the object detected by the anatomical characteristic position detecting means,

wherein the obtaining of the shape information comprises:

determining an average shape based on a plurality of radiation images of objects substantially similar to the object in the input medical image,

determining eigenvectors for deforming the average shape, wherein the eigenvectors are based on the average shape and the plurality of radiation images of the objects substantially similar to the object in the input medical image,

extracting data corresponding to a shape of the object in the input medical image,

determining a parameter based on at least a portion of the data extracted from the object in the input medical image such that a shape of the artificial image approximates the extracted data, and

estimating the shape information based on the determined parameter, the determined average shape and the determined eigenvectors.

3. An object structure measurement system as defined in claim 2 wherein the structural physical value comprises a cardiothoracic ratio.

4. An anatomical characteristic position detecting system comprising:

an artificial image storage means in which a plurality of pieces of artificial image data representing different object structures are stored with each piece of artificial image data attached with shape information on a shape of the object represented by the artificial image data,

an artificial image selection means which selects an artificial image representing an object substantially conforming in structure to an object of an input medical image out of images represented by the plurality of pieces of image data stored in the artificial image storage means, and

an anatomical characteristic position detecting means which detects an anatomical characteristic position of the object on the basis of the shape information attached to the artificial image selected by the artificial image selection means,

wherein the shape information comprises:

an average shape based on the plurality of pieces of image data stored in the artificial image storage means,

eigenvectors for deforming the average shape, wherein the eigenvectors are based on the average shape and the plurality of pieces of image data stored in the artificial image storage means, and

a parameter based on at least a portion of data extracted from the object in the input medical image such that a shape of the artificial image approximates the extracted data.

5. An object structure measurement system comprising:

an artificial image storage means in which a plurality of pieces of artificial image data representing different object structures are stored with each piece of artificial image data attached with shape information on a shape of the object represented by the artificial image data,

an artificial image selection means which selects an artificial image representing an object substantially conforming in structure to an object of an input medical image out of images represented by the plurality of pieces of image data stored in the artificial image storage means,

an anatomical characteristic position detecting means which detects an anatomical characteristic position of the object on the basis of the shape information attached to the artificial image selected by the artificial image selection means, and

a measurement means which measures a structural physical value of the object on the basis of the anatomical characteristic position of the object detected by the anatomical characteristic position detecting means,

wherein the shape information comprises:

an average shape based on the plurality of pieces of image data stored in the artificial image storage means,

eigenvectors for deforming the average shape, wherein the eigenvectors are based on the average shape and the plurality of pieces of image data stored in the artificial image storage means, and

a parameter based on at least a portion of data extracted from the object in the input medical image such that a shape of the artificial image approximates the extracted data.