Objective assessment of joint damage
AssigneesTufts Medical Center, Inc., Trustees of Boston University
InventorsTimothy McAlindon, Jeffrey B. Driban, Lori Lyn Price, Michael Lavalley, Ming Zhang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Determining a composite score includes deriving, based on an image set that includes at least one three-dimensional image of the synovial joint, first and second information. The first information indicates cumulative damage to the synovial joint. The second information indicates either one or both joint pain and loss of function of the synovial joint. The resulting composite score provides an objective measure of joint damage or an extent of joint disease.
Claims20
A method that is tied to a particular machine and that is also integrated into a practical application that requires use of said particular machine to carry out, the practical application being that of assessing cartilage damage in a joint, the particular machine being a joint evaluator that comprises a magnetic-resonance imaging machine having a magnet, an RF coil, and gradient coils, wherein said method comprises using said particular machine to carry out said practical application by carrying out the steps of:
- using said magnetic-resonance imaging machine, exposing a joint to a magnetic field from said magnet and exciting said gradient coils and said RF coil so as to cause acquisition of a first set of images, each of which corresponds to a location of cartilage within a synovial joint;
- using said first set of images, determining a cartilage-damage index for each of said locations;
- determining a cumulative-damage score based on said cartilage-damage index for each of said locations;
- using said magnetic-resonance imaging machine, exposing said joint to said magnetic field from said magnet and exciting said gradient coils and said RF coil so as to cause acquisition of a second set of images, said images in said second set being images of volumes having bone-marrow lesions and images of volumes affected by effusion from synovitis volumes within said synovial joint;
- using said second set of images, determining a disease-activity score, said disease-activity score being indicative of activity of a disease of said joint;
- using said joint evaluator, determining a composite score based on said cumulative damage score and said disease-activity score, and
- using said composite score as a biomarker that indicates progression of said disease of said joint,
- whereby said composite score thus determined is used for predicting disease progression to enrich a clinical trial or for recognizing and quantifying features that are indicative of severity of joint damage.
An apparatus comprising a joint evaluator that comprises a magnetic-resonance imaging machine that acquires first and second sets of images, said first set comprising images corresponding to locations of cartilage within a joint and said second set comprising images of volumes having bone-marrow lesions and images of volumes affected by effusion from synovitis volumes within said joint, said joint being a synovial joint, said joint evaluator further comprising a volumetric analyzer, a deterioration analyzer, and a composite score generator, wherein said volumetric analyzer is configured to use said first set to determine a cartilage-damage index for each of said locations and to determine a cumulative-damage score based on said cartilage-damage index for each of said locations, wherein said deterioration analyzer is configured to determine, from said second set of images, a disease-activity score, said disease-activity score being indicative of activity of a disease of said joint, wherein said composite-score generator derives a composite score based at least in part on said cartilage-damage index and said disease-activity score, wherein said composite score is a biomarker that indicates progression of said disease of said joint, whereby said composite score provides an objective basis for predicting disease progression or for recognizing and quantifying feature that are indicative of severity of joint damage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.