在復健醫學領域中，量測肌肉組織的運動情形是評估治療效果時的重要依據。在本論文中，我們利用超音波影像分析技術來作肌肉運動的追蹤，提出了兩種不同的追蹤方法分別應用在三維與四維動態超音波影像上。所提出的多重特徵區塊比對法是以影像灰階、運動速度、鄰域關係與選取特徵為基礎建構在多階層架構中，使影像追蹤達到準確度的提升與維持空間適應性。一般傳統的相關係數計算無法解決追蹤影像上特徵均一區域時模糊化所產生的比對誤差，利用多重選取特徵就可以先找出影像中的利於追蹤的特徵顯著區域，藉由參考特徵顯著區域的運動估測，便可輔助特徵均一區域的追蹤。在三維動態超音波影像的運動估測中，我們將提出的以多重樣板所作的多重特徵區塊比對結合特徵顯著鄰域與卡爾曼(Kalman)預測，來解決特徵均一區域的追蹤問題。而在四維超音波動態影像中，由於肌肉組織缺乏可以界定的邊界，為了將肌肉組織的運動量化，我們以追蹤肌膜組織的前端作為肌肉運動的量測標準，在肌肉運動模型中使用多階層的多重特徵區塊比對法結合切面微調與漂移校正，來適用於超音波體積影像的模糊特性以及因為低取像頻率所造成的影像劇烈形變。所提出的三維與四維動態超音波影像追蹤方法都以活體肌肉骨骼超音波影像作驗證，並與醫生的評估做比對。本論文所提出的方法可用於量化復健治療的效果，例如運動傷害時的療效評估。

The quantitative evaluation of muscular motion is an important index for rehabilitation biomechanics. For the clinical applications on 3D (2D+t) and 4D (3D+t) ultrasonic image sequences respectively, we propose two distinct multi-feature block-matching-based tracking methodologies to estimate muscular motion. The proposed multi-feature block matching methods in multilevel frame work achieve high accuracy and spatial adaptability through considering image intensity, motion velocity, neighbor relativity and selected features. By using multiple selected features, the discriminating region can be determined and provides a confident motion reference for homogeneous region tracking to overcome the motion ambiguity, which the traditional correlation coefficient measurement is extremely suffered from. In 3D motion tracking, the problem of region homogeneity can be handled by the proposed multi-feature block matching in multi-template framework combined with good discriminative neighbor reference and Kalman prediction. To quantify motion of borderless musculature from 4D image sequences, the end of fascia is chosen as target and tracked by multilevel multi-feature block matching with sectional adjustment and drift correction on a muscular motion model. The tolerance for image fuzziness and tissue deformation at low frame rate is effectively increased in the 4D estimation. In the experimental results, the accuracy in both methods is validated from in vivo musculoskeletal ultrasonic image sequences by comparing the results with the doctor-defined ground truth. This study can be applied to clinical diagnosis, such as sport injuries.

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