A method for determining an estimation of a topological support of a tubular based structure comprising an inner wall and a plurality of distinct regions, the method comprising (a) obtaining image data representative of the tubular based structure； (b) placing an initial seed in an initial region selected from one of the distinct regions； (c) performing an initial region growing until an initial resulting area comprises at least a portion of the inner wall and at least a portion of a neighboring region corresponding to one of the distinct regions； (d) starting a tree comprising an initial tree node corresponding to the initial region； (e) for each neighboring region: placing a subsequent seed in the neighboring region； performing a corresponding subsequent region growing until a subsequent resulting area comprises at least a portion of the inner wall and at least a portion of an additional neighboring region； and adding a tree node corresponding to the neighboring region in the tree； (f) performing processing step (e) for each of the additional neighboring regions； and (g) filtering the tree according to predetermined topological parameters to thereby determine the estimation of the topological support of the tubular based structure. Applications of the method for estimating a colon topology for virtual colonoscopy are also disclosed.
