Methods and apparatus for computing volumetric perfusion

A computed tomographic (CT) imaging system for computing volumetric perfusion in a spatially stationary organ comprising:

• a radiation source;
• an area detector;
• and
• a computer operationally coupled to said radiation source and said area detector, said computer configured to:
• position an area detector such that the area detector encompasses a spatially stationary organ within a field of view of the imaging system for all view angles;
• operate the CT imaging system in a cine mode to acquire a plurality of projection data representative of the tissue dynamics in the spatially stationary organ;
• generate reconstructed data of the contrast dynamics of the tissue using the projection data;
• and
• temporally filter respective signals from volume elements of the reconstructed data to reduce noise, the signals from volume elements being representative of the tissue dynamics;
• and
• compute the volumetric perfusion in the organ using the temporally filtered signals from volume elements.

A computer readable medium encoded with a program configured to instruct a computer to:

• position an area detector such that the area detector encompasses a spatially stationary organ within a field of view of the imaging system for all view angles;
• operate the CT imaging system in a cine mode to acquire a plurality of projection data representative of the tissue dynamics in the spatially stationary organ;
• generate reconstructions of the contrast dynamics of the tissue using the projection data;
• temporally filter respective signals from volume elements of the reconstructions to reduce noise, the signals from volume elements being representative of the tissue dynamics;
• and,
• compute the volumetric perfusion in the organ using the temporally filtered signals from volume elements.

A method for computing volumetric perfusion in a spatially stationary organ using a computed tomography (CT) imaging system having a field of view, said method comprising:

• positioning an area detector such that the area detector encompasses a spatially stationary organ within the field of view of the imaging system for all view angles;
• operating the CT imaging system in a cine mode to acquire a plurality of processed transmission measurements representative of the tissue dynamics in the spatially stationary organ;
• filtering the processed transmission measurements at each view angle to reduce noise in the measurements, thereby enabling generation of projection data with improved signal-to-noise ratio;
• generating reconstructions of the contrast dynamics of the tissue using the projection data;
• and
• computing the volumetric perfusion in the organ using the reconstructions representative of the tissue dynamics.

A computed tomographic (CT) imaging system for computing volumetric perfusion in a spatially stationary organ comprising:

• a radiation source;
• an area detector;
• and
• a computer operationally coupled to said radiation source and said area detector, said computer configured to:
• position an area detector such that the area detector encompasses a spatially stationary organ within a field of view of the imaging system for all view angles;
• operate the CT imaging system in a cine mode to acquire a plurality of processed transmission measurements representative of the tissue dynamics in the spatially stationary organ;
• filter the processed transmission measurements at each view angle to reduce noise in the measurements, thereby enabling generation of projections with improved signal-to-noise ratio;
• generate reconstructions of the contrast dynamics of the tissue using the projection measurements;
• and
• compute the volumetric perfusion in the organ using the reconstructions representative of the tissue dynamics.

A method for computing volumetric perfusion in a spatially stationary organ using a computed tomography (CT) imaging system having a field of view, said method comprising:

• positioning an area detector such that the area detector encompasses a spatially stationary organ within the field of view of the imaging system for all view angles;
• operating the CT imaging system in a cine mode to acquire a plurality of processed transmission measurements representative of the tissue dynamics in the spatially stationary organ;
• interpolating the processed transmission measurements at each view angle to a particular instant in time, thereby enabling generation of time-resolved projection data;
• generating reconstructions of the contrast dynamics of the tissue using the projection data;
• and,
• computing the volumetric perfusion in the organ using the reconstructions representative of the tissue dynamics.

A computed tomographic (CT) imaging system for computing volumetric perfusion in a spatially stationary organ comprising:

• a radiation source;
• an area detector;
• and
• a computer operationally coupled to said radiation source and said area detector, said computer configured to:
• position an area detector such that the area detector encompasses a spatially stationary organ within a field of view of the imaging system for all view angles;
• operate the CT imaging system in a cine mode to acquire a plurality of processed transmission measurements representative of the tissue dynamics in the spatially stationary organ;
• interpolate the processed transmission measurements at each view angle to a particular instant in time, thereby enabling generation of time-resolved projection data;
• generate reconstructions of the contrast dynamics of the tissue using the projection data;
• and
• compute the volumetric perfusion in the organ using the reconstructions representative of the tissue dynamics.