Back to results
US 12,651,335 B2Granted
Automated CT contrast detection
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsJohn W. Garrett, Perry J. Pickhardt, B. Dustin Pooler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for automatically determining whether a CT image was taken with or without contrast media uses a segmentation to isolate voxels of a vascularized structure and simple statistical thresholding of the attenuation values of the isolated voxels to provide transparent and robust discrimination. In some embodiments, the phase of the contrast injection can be deduced from a degree of variation in attenuation of the isolated organ voxels.
Claims19
A system for CT contrast detection comprising:
- an electronic computer executing a program stored in non-transitory memory to:
- receive a digitized CT image in electronic format describing a volume of voxels having x-ray attenuation values, the digitized CT image being without categorization as to whether it was obtained with or without contrast medium;
- perform a segmentation of the voxels in the electronic format to isolate voxels of at least one predetermined vascularized structure capable of receiving an injected contrast medium from surrounding tissue;
- extract a statistical measure of the x-ray attenuation values of the isolated voxels in the electronic format;
- compare the extracted statistical measure to a predetermined threshold adapted to distinguish digitized CT images taken with a contrast medium and digitized CT images taken without a contrast medium;
- and
- provide an output indicating whether the digitized CT image was obtained with or without contrast medium.
4 more elements
A method of automatic CT contrast detection comprising:
- executing a program stored in non-transitory memory with an electronic processor to:
- receive at an input circuit a digitized CT image in electronic format describing a volume of voxels having x-ray attenuation values uncharacterized with respect to whether the digitized CT image was obtained with or without contrast medium;
- perform a segmentation of the voxels to isolate voxels in the electronic format of at least one predetermined vascularized structure capable of receiving an injected contrast medium;
- extract a statistical measure of the x-ray attenuation values of from the isolated voxels in the electronic format;
- compare the extracted statistical measure to a predetermined threshold adapted to distinguish digitized CT images taken with a contrast medium and digitized CT images taken without a contrast medium;
- and
- provide an output indicating whether the digitized CT image was obtained with or without contrast medium.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.