From hemorrhage to midline shift: A new method of tracing the deformed midline in traumatic brain injury CT images

Abstract

In intracranial pathological examinations using CT scan, brain midline shift (MLS) is an important diagnostic feature indicating the pathological severity and patient's survival possibility. In this paper, we develop a new method of tracing the brain midline shift in traumatic brain injury (TBI) CT images using its original cause - the hemorrhage. Firstly, we model the relationship between the hemorrhage and the midline deformation caused by it using a linear regression model (H-MLS model). Secondly, using the H-MLS model, the deformed midline is predicted from the hemorrhage detected in CT images. Finally, the predicted deformed midline is adjusted according to the visual symmetry information. Preliminary experiments show that the proposed method is effective and time-efficient. ©2009 IEEE.