3D image display of fetal ultrasonic image by thin shell

Due to the properties of convenience and non-invasion, ultrasound has become an essential tool for diagnosis of fetal abnormality during women pregnancy in obstetrics. However, the `noisy and blurry' nature of ultrasound data makes the rendering of the data a challenge in comparison with MRI and CT images, in spite of the speckle noise, the unwanted objects usually occlude the target to be observed. In this paper, we proposed a new system that can effectively depress the speckle noise, extract the target object, and clearly render the 3D fetal image in almost real-time from 3D ultrasound image data. The system is based on a deformable model that detects contours of the object according to the local image feature of ultrasound. Besides, in order to accelerate rendering speed, a thin shell is defined to separate the observed organ from unrelated structures depending on those detected contours. In this way, we can support quick 3D display of ultrasound, and the efficient visualization of 3D fetal ultrasound thus becomes possible.