# US 2013/0158402 A1 · Methods and systems for estimating gestation age of a fetus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0158402 A1 - Document ID: US20130158402A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/328,479 - Filed: 2011-12-16 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-16 - Assignees: General Electric Company - Inventors: Pavan Kumar Veerabhadra ANNANGI; Jyotirmoy BANERJEE; Dirk Ryan PADFIELD - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130158402A1 ## CPC - A61B 8/0866: {involving foetal diagnosis; pre-natal or peri-natal diagnosis of the baby} - A61B 8/5223: {for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data (for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012)} - G06T 7/62: of area, perimeter, diameter or volume - G16H 50/30: for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment - A61B 8/0808: {for diagnosis of the brain} - A61B 8/0858: {involving measuring tissue layers, e.g. skin, interfaces} - A61B 8/488: {involving Doppler signals} - G06T 7/0012: {Biomedical image inspection} - G06T 2207/10132: Ultrasound image - G06T 2207/30044: Fetus; Embryo - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA ## Abstract Methods, systems and computer program products for estimating the gestational age of a fetus are provided. According to one embodiment, the method generates a component image from a segmented ultrasound image of a fetal head. The component image includes one or more edges. The method then identifies a third ventricle within the component image. The method estimates a length of a bi-parietal diameter, based at least in part on the orientation of the third ventricle. Thereafter, the method estimates the gestational age of the fetus. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for estimating gestational age of a fetus, the method comprising: generating a component image from a segmented ultrasound image of a fetal head, wherein the component image comprises one or more edges; identifying a third ventricle within the component image; and estimating length of a Bi-Parietal Diameter based, at least in part, upon orientation of the third ventricle. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the third ventricle comprises: evaluating a cost function for one or more candidate edges within the component image; and selecting one candidate edge of the one or more candidate edges as the third ventricle based upon the values of the cost function. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the cost function is based upon at least one of a size of a candidate edge and a distance transform value of the candidate edge with respect to the segmented fetal head. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more candidate edges are identified based upon at least one of size of the one or more edges, linearity of the one or more edges, orientation of the one or more edges, distance of the one or more edges from a segmented fetal cranium, and phase symmetry of the one or more edges with respect to the segmented fetal cranium. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2 further comprising applying probabilistic Hough transform on at least one candidate edge of the one or more candidate edges. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising: identifying one or more features within the component image; matching the identified one or more features with a statistical model; and assigning a score to the component image based upon the matching. ### Claim 7 An ultrasound imaging system for estimating gestational age of a fetus, the ultrasound imaging system comprising: one or more processors; and computer program code stored in a computer readable storage medium, coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the computer program code, when executed, is operative to cause the one or more processors to: generate a component image from a segmented ultrasound image of a fetal head, wherein the component image comprises one or more edges; identify a third ventricle within the component image; and estimate length of a Bi-Parietal Diameter based, at least in part, upon orientation of the third ventricle. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The ultrasound imaging system of claim 7, wherein the computer program code is further operative to cause the one or more processors to: identify one or more features within the component image; match the identified one or more features with a statistical model; and assign a score to the component image based upon the matching ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The ultrasound imaging system of claim 8, wherein the computer program code is further operative to cause the one or more processors to: obtain a set of training images having the one or more features; mark the one or more features in each training image of the set of training images; and build the statistical model based, at least part, upon the marked one or more features for the set of training images. ### Claim 10 A computer program product comprising a non- transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions for estimating gestational age of a fetus, the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause one or more processors to: generate a component image from a segmented ultrasound image of a fetal head, wherein the component image comprises one or more edges; identify a third ventricle within the component image; and estimate length of a Bi-Parietal Diameter based, at least in part., upon orientation of the third ventricle.