3D digital cleansing using segmentation rays

We propose a novel approach for segmentation and digital cleansing of endoscopic organs. Our method can be used for a variety of segmentation needs with little or no modification. It aims at fulfilling the dual and often conflicting requirements of a fast and accurate segmentation and also eliminates the undesirable partial volume effect which contemporary approaches cannot. For segmentation and digital cleansing, we use the peculiar characteristics exhibited by the intersection of any two distinct-intensity regions. To detect these intersections we cast rays through the volume, which we call the segmentation rays as they assist in the segmentation. We then associate a certain task of reconstruction and classification with each intersection the ray detects. We further use volumetric contrast enhancement to reconstruct surface lost by segmentation (if any), which aids in improving the quality of the volume rendering.