On the Localization of 3D Anatomical Point Landmarks in Medical Imagery Using Multi-step Differential Approaches

In this paper, we investigate diierential approaches for the localization of 3D anatomical point landmarks in 3D medical images. First, we study an existing 2D edge intersection approach for localizing corners and theoretically analyze the localization accuracy of this method for an analytic model of an L-junction. Then, we extend this approach to 3D. We propose two two-step and one three-step procedures for reened localization of 3D point landmarks. For these approaches, we experimentally analyze their localization accuracy for 3D synthetic images. Finally, we investigate the localization of anatomical landmarks of the human brain in 3D MR images. It turns out that the multi-step procedures can considerably improve the localization accuracy of landmarks in comparison to existing single-step approaches.