Electronic colon cleansing using segmentation rays for virtual colonoscopy

We present an electronic colon cleansing algorithm using a new segmentation technique based on segmentation rays. These rays are specially designed to analyze the intensity profile as they traverse through the dataset. When this intensity profile matches any of the pre-defined profiles, the rays perform certain task of reconstruction. We use these rays to detect the intersection between air and residual fluid, and between residual fluid and soft-tissue. One of the most important advantages of segmentation rays over other segmentation techniques is the detection of partial volume regions. Segmentation rays can accurately detect partial volume regions and remove them if needed. Once partial volume is eliminated, removal of other unwanted regions (e.g., tagged fluid) is relatively easy. This approach to electronic cleansing is extremely fast as it requires minimal computation.