Methods and systems for timing a second contrast bolus
AssigneeGE Precision Healthcare LLC
InventorsMichael Sarju Vaz, Nitya Talasila, Bradley Gabrielse, Ryan Forbes, David Joseph Pitterle, Yasu Omi, Chelsey Amanda Lewis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for adaptive scan control. In one embodiment, a method includes upon a first contrast injection, processing acquired projection data of a subject to measure a contrast signal of the first contrast injection, estimating a time when a venous return to baseline (VRTB) of the first contrast injection is to occur based on the contrast signal, and commanding initiation of a second contrast injection at the estimated time.
Claims15
A method, comprising:
- upon a first contrast injection, processing acquired projection data of a subject to measure a contrast signal of the first contrast injection, the contrast signal comprising a segment of a contrast enhancement curve that starts at a first time corresponding to commencement of the first contrast injection and ends at a second time corresponding to a point of the contrast enhancement curve prior to a peak of the contrast enhancement curve;
- estimating a time when a venous return to baseline (VRTB) of the first contrast injection is to occur based on the contrast signal by entering the segment of the contrast enhancement curve as input to a machine learning model trained to output the estimated time when the VRTB is to occur as a function of the segment;
- and
- commanding initiation of a second contrast injection at the estimated time when the VRTB of the first contrast injection is to occur.
A method for an imaging system, comprising:
- upon a first injection of a contrast agent to a subject, measuring a contrast level of the contrast agent of the subject until the contrast level reaches a first point on a contrast level curve to generate a contrast signal that terminates at least before a venous return to baseline of the contrast level;
- initiating a first contrast scan of the subject with the imaging system;
- estimating when the venous return to baseline of the contrast agent is going to occur based on the contrast signal;
- commanding a second injection of the contrast agent to the subject be performed at the estimated venous return to baseline;
- and
- initiating a second contrast scan of the subject.
A system, comprising:
- an x-ray source that emits a beam of x-rays toward a subject to be imaged;
- a detector that receives the x-rays attenuated by the subject;
- a data acquisition system (DAS) operably connected to the detector;
- and
- a computer operably connected to the DAS and configured with instructions in non-transitory memory that when executed cause the computer to:
- upon a first contrast injection of a contrast agent, process projection data of a subject received from the DAS to measure a contrast level of the contrast agent of the subject until the contrast level reaches a first point on a contrast level curve to generate a contrast signal that terminates at least before a predetermined event of the first contrast injection;
- estimate a time when the predetermined event of the first contrast injection is to occur based on the contrast signal;
- and
- command a second contrast injection be initiated at the estimated time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.