An Accurate 3D Segmentation Method of the Spinal Canal Applied to CT Data

With the modern treatment planning techniques the accurate definition of the target volume as well as the organs at risk is a crucial step for the treatment outcome. One of the key organs that must be protected during the irradiation treatment is the spinal cord. Nowadays, high resolution computed tomography (CT) data are required to perform accurate treatment planning, and there is the demand for quick but accurate segmentation tools. In this work we present a very simple approach that can accurately extract the spinal canal in three dimensions (3D) from CT images. The user must define only the starting point for the algorithm and the rest of the process is performed automatically. The core of our method is a boundary-tracing algorithm combined with linear interpolation techniques in the longitudinal (z) direction.