The invention relates to a method of segmenting a three-dimensional
structure, contained in an object, from one or more two-dimensional
images which represent a slice of the object. The method utilizes a
deformable model whose surface is formed by a network of meshes which
connect network points on the surface of the model to one another. First
there are determined the meshes which intersect at least one image and a
point on the surface of the structure to be segmented is searched along a
search line which traverses the mesh and extends in the image.
Subsequently, the position of the network points of the model is
calculated anew. These steps are repeated a number of times and the model
ultimately obtained, that is, after several deformations, is considered
to be the segmentation of the three-dimensional structure from the
two-dimensional images.