Analysis of local concentration in stomach fold pattern by using abdominal X-ray CT image

Abstract

This paper discusses evaluation of the concentration of stomach wall fold patterns by using abdominal X-ray CT images. It has been noted that most stomach cancers are accompanied by concentration of folds at the pathological site. Consequently, if the extent of concentration can be represented quantitatively on the basis of an image, it will help with quantitative diagnosis of stomach cancer and make it possible to reduce the labor of image reading. Evaluation of the concentration of stomach wall folds reduces to the problem of evaluating the concentration in a line figure on a curved surface. The paper proposes, as the first step, a new method of calculation of the concentration by combining the local projection of the curved surface figure and the conventional two-dimensional concentration index calculation. Then, using this method, a procedure for stomach cancer site detection from abdominal CT images is developed. The method is applied to two real cases of cancer accompanied by fold concentration, and it is verified that a high concentration index is obtained at the cancer site. The result is significant because it demonstrates for the first time the possibility of quantitative diagnosis of stomach cancer from three-dimensional CT images. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 88(9): 48–57, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20207