Real-time prediction of tissue fixation time
AssigneeVentana Medical Systems, Inc.
InventorDaniel R. Bauer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure provides systems and methods which facilitate the prediction of an estimated time in which one or more fluids will optimally be diffused into a biological specimen, e.g., a tissue sample derived from a human subject. In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides systems and methods which facilitate the prediction of an estimated time until a biological specimen will optimally be fixed with one or more fixatives. In other embodiments, the prediction of a future time at which the biological specimen will be optimally fixed is based on time-of-flight data acquired at a particular point in time during the fixation of the biological specimen that has been deemed sufficiently accurate to predict the time at which the biological specimen will be optimally diffused with fixative.
Claims20
A method of estimating a time in which a fluid will optimally be diffused into a biological specimen immersed in the fluid, comprising:
- (a) acquiring acoustic data at one or more positions along the biological specimen immersed in the fluid;
- (b) deriving time-of-flight (TOF) data from the acquired acoustic data, wherein the derived TOF data comprises one or more computed TOF data points, one or more computed TOF curves, and/or one or more computed decay constants;
- (c) simultaneously computing at least two confidence models based on the derived TOF data, wherein the at least two confidence models are selected from a past confidence model, a present confidence model, and a future confidence model;
- (d) determining a point in time when the computed at least two confidence models each independently meet predetermined threshold criteria;
- and
- (e) estimating the time in which the fluid will optimally be diffused into the biological specimen based on TOF data corresponding to the determined point in time when the computed at least two of confidence models each independently met the predetermined threshold criteria.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for estimating a time in which a fluid will optimally be diffused into a biological specimen immersed in the fluid comprising:
- a. deriving time-of-flight (TOF) data from acquired acoustic data;
- b. simultaneously computing at least two confidence models based on the derived TOF data, wherein the at least two confidence models comprise a past confidence model, a present confidence model, and a future confidence model;
- c. determining a point in time when the computed at least two confidence models each independently meet predetermined threshold criteria;
- and
- d. estimating the time in which the fluid will optimally be diffused into the biological specimen based on TOF data corresponding to the determined point in time when the computed at least two confidence models each independently met the predetermined threshold criteria,
- wherein the computed past confidence model meets predetermined past confidence model threshold criteria when a predetermined number of retrieved computed candidate decay constants corresponding to a plurality of derived TOF data points are each determined to be within a predetermined threshold percentage value of a calculated average decay constant.
A system for estimating a time in which a fluid will optimally be diffused into a biological specimen immersed in the fluid, the system comprising:
- (i) one or more processors, and (ii) one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories to store computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
- (a) deriving time-of-flight (TOF) data from acoustic data acquired at one or more positions along a biological specimen immersed in a fluid;
- (b) simultaneously computing at least two confidence models based on the derived TOF data, wherein the at least two confidence models comprise a past confidence model, a present confidence model, and a future confidence model;
- (c) determining a point in time when the computed at least two confidence models each independently meet predetermined threshold criteria;
- and
- (d) estimating the time in which the fluid will optimally be diffused into the biological specimen based on TOF data corresponding to the determined point in time when the computed at least two of confidence models each independently met the predetermined threshold criteria,
- wherein the computed past confidence model meets predetermined past confidence model threshold criteria when a predetermined number of retrieved computed candidate decay constants corresponding to a plurality of derived TOF data points are each determined to be within a predetermined threshold percentage value of a calculated average decay constant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.