Virtual colonoscopy is a minimally invasive alternative for conventional optical colonoscopy to detect diseases of the colon, including polyps, diverticulosis, and cancer. In virtual colonoscopy computer tomography is combined with specialized visualization techniques in order to provide the physician with a comprehensive view of the colon wall. Due to the tortuous nature of the colon, the traditionally used fly-through visualization is time consuming and error prone.
Statistical Shape Models capture the shape variation of a training set of shapes and can be registered to an image of an object of the class they represent by simple adjustment of their parameters. We have applied statistical shape models of healthy tracheas to the assessment and stenting of tracheal stenosis. The idea is that a model with healthy tracheas only will not be influenced by local geometric variations typical of stenosis. The model produces a shape that is an estimation of the shape of the patient's trachea if it were not narrowed.
