Rationale and Objectives. In this study, the authors developed a fast algor
ithm for soft straightening of the colon with computed tomographic data tha
t greatly accelerates the unraveling process based on the interpolation of
representative electric force lines.
Materials and Methods. Each curved cross section of the colon is defined by
electric force lines of a common origin on an electrically charged central
path and is constructed by interpolating most of these force lines from a
limited number of representative force lines that are traced directly. Both
a synthetic colon phantom and a colon in a living patient were used to dem
onstrate the feasibility of the fast interpolation algorithm compared with
direct implementation for soft straightening of the colon.
Results, The interpolation-based soft-straightening algorithm ran approxima
tely 40 times faster than the direct implementation of the electric field-b
ased soft-straightening algorithm.
Conclusion. The fast algorithm for soft straightening of the colon has pote
ntial for use in computed tomographic colonography.