Computer Analysis of Three Dimensional Morphological Characteristics of the Bile Duct

In this paper, a computer image-processing algorithm for analyzing the morphological characteristics of bile ducts in Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) images was proposed. The algorithm consisted of mathematical morphology methods including erosion, closing and skeletonization, and a spline curve fitting method to obtain the length and curvature of the center line of the bile duct. Of 10 cases, the average length of the bile duct was 14.56 cm. The maximum curvature was in the range of 0.111 similar to 2.339. These experimental results show that using the computer image-processing algorithm to assess the morphological characteristics of the bile duct is feasible and further research is needed to evaluate its potential clinical values.