System and method for improving workflow efficiencies in reading tomosynthesis medical image data

Abstract

A system and a method are disclosed that forms a novel, synthetic, two-dimensional image of an anatomical region such as a breast. Two-dimensional regions of interest (ROIs) such as masses are extracted from three-dimensional medical image data, such as digital tomosynthesis reconstructed volumes. Using image processing technologies, the ROIs are then blended with two-dimensional image information of the anatomical region to form the synthetic, two-dimensional image. This arrangement and resulting image desirably improves the workflow of a physician reading medical image data, as the synthetic, two-dimensional image provides detail previously only seen by interrogating the three-dimensional medical image data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for processing image data relative to an imaged anatomical region comprising:
 a. an acquisition process that acquires one or more two-dimensional (2D) regions of interest (ROIs) from a three-dimensional (3D) medical image of the anatomical region obtained from a medical imaging device;   b. a first projection process that defines a first 2D projection image of the anatomical region;   c. a second projection process that generates a second 2D projection image of the anatomical region using image information from the first 2D projection image and the one or more 2D ROIs; and   d. at least one of a display and a data storage arrangement receiving an output of the second 2D projection image.