Morphology-based three-dimensional interpolation

In many medical applications, the number of available two-dimensional (2-D) images is always insufficient. Therefore, the three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction must be accomplished by appropriate interpolation methods to fill gaps between available image slices. Here, the authors propose a morphology-based algorithm to interpolate the missing data. The proposed algorithm consists of several steps. First, the object or hole contours are extracted using conventional image-processing techniques. Second, the object or hole matching issue is evaluated. Prior to interpolation, the centroids of the objects are aligned. Next, the authors employ a dilation operator to transform digital images into distance maps and they correct the distance maps if required. Finally, the authors utilize an erosion operator to accomplish the interpolation. Furthermore, if multiple objects or holes are interpolated, they blend them together to complete the algorithm. The authors experimentally evaluate the proposed method against various synthesized cases reported in the literature. Experimental results show that the proposed method is able to handle general object interpolation effectively.