METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VISUALIZING A PROPERTY OF CARTILAGE

1 . A method of visualizing a property of cartilage, comprising:

generating, by a processing circuit, a plurality of slices, based on a magnetic resonance, MR, sequence of a portion comprising cartilage, wherein each slice represents a layer of the portion;

for each slice, generating, by the processing circuit, a cartilage line representing cartilage of the slice;

for the cartilage line of each slice, generating, by the processing circuit, an image column for visualizing a cartilage property of the cartilage of the slice; and

generating, by the processing circuit, a two-dimensional, 2D, image for visualizing the cartilage property of the cartilage of the portion, based on the generated image columns.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to the step of generating a cartilage line,

segmenting, by the processing circuit, the cartilage for generating a cartilage surface representing the cartilage of the portion;

wherein for each slice, the cartilage line is an intersection line of the slice and the cartilage surface.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating a cartilage line comprises:

for each slice, segmenting, by the processing circuit, cartilage for generating the cartilage line.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating an image column comprises:

for each cartilage point of the cartilage line, determining, by the processing circuit, a cartilage property value;

generating the image column comprising a column of pixels, each pixel corresponding to a cartilage point of the cartilage line in order;

assigning a property value for each pixel according to a cartilage property value of its corresponding cartilage point.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the pixels having different property values are displayed differently, e.g., in different colors or different intensities.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating the 2D image comprises:

arranging the image columns side by side in order, such that center pixels of all the image columns are aligned;

wherein a center pixel corresponds to a center of any of: the portion, a slice, a cartilage line, and a cartilage surface representing the cartilage of the portion.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cartilage property is a thickness of a cartilage.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cartilage property is a signal intensity of a cartilage.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

acquiring, by an MR scanning device, the MR sequence of the portion.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the MR sequence of the portion comprises quantification information of the portion;

wherein the quantification information of the portion comprises at least one of: a longitudinal relaxation rate R1, a transverse relaxation rate R2, a longitudinal relaxation time T1, a transverse relaxation time T2, and a Proton Density, PD.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the cartilage property comprises at least one of: a longitudinal relaxation rate R1, a transverse relaxation rate R2, a longitudinal relaxation time T1, a transverse relaxation time T2, and a Proton Density, PD.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying, by a user interface, the 2D image for visualizing the cartilage property of the cartilage of the portion.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

generating, by the processing circuit, an anatomical image comprising a plurality of anatomical slice images, based on the MR sequence of the portion, or based on a different MR sequence of the portion, wherein each anatomical slice image represents a layer of the portion corresponding to one of the plurality of slices; and

displaying, by the user interface, at least one of the plurality of anatomical slice images.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of anatomical slice images is displayed as seen from at least two different viewpoints.

15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

when an image column of the 2D image is selected, marking, by the processing circuit, a corresponding anatomy slice image;

and/or

when an anatomy slice image is selected, marking, by the processing circuit, a corresponding image column of the 2D image.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein at least a part of the 2D image and at least a part of the anatomical image are displayed simultaneously.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, by the processing circuit, an indicator for indicating a size and/or a position of a part of the 2D image related to an anatomical image representing at least a part of the portion.

18 . The method of claim 17 ,

wherein the indicator has a length for indicating the size of the part of the 2D image, and/or for indicating a distance of the part of the 2D image from a center of the portion;

and/or

wherein the indicator indicates a center of the portion for indicating the position of the part of the 2D image.

19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

dividing the 2D image into a plurality of regions, and calculating a value representing the cartilage property of at least one of the plurality of regions.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion comprises a joint.

21 . A system for visualizing a property of cartilage, comprising a processing circuit configured to:

generate a plurality of slices, based on a magnetic resonance, MR, sequence of a portion comprising a cartilage, wherein each slice represents a layer of the portion;

for each slice, generate a cartilage line representing cartilage of the slice;

for the cartilage line of each slice, generate an image column for visualizing a cartilage property of the cartilage of the slice; and

generate a two-dimensional, 2D, image for visualizing the cartilage property of the cartilage of the portion, based on the generated image columns.

22 . The system of claim 21 , further comprising:

a user interface configured to display images.

23 . A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having computer readable program code recorded thereon which when executed on a device having processing capability is configured to perform the method of claim 1 .