Method for measuring liver fat mass using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsCynthia Elizabeth Landberg Davis, Xin Wang, Tzu-Jen Kao, Megan Pearl Rothney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods for measuring liver fat mass are provided. One method includes acquiring dual-energy two-dimensional (2D) scan information from a dual-energy X-ray scan of a body and generating a dual-energy X-ray image of the body using the 2D scan information. The method further includes identifying a region of interest using the dual-energy X-ray image and determining a subcutaneous fat mass for each of a plurality of sections of the region of interest. The method also includes determining a liver fat mass for the region of interest based on the determined subcutaneous fat mass for each of the plurality of sections.
Claims14
A method for determining liver fat mass of a body, the method comprising:
- performing a dual-energy X-ray scan of a body;
- generating at least one dual-energy X-ray skeletal image of the body and at least one soft tissue image from the dual-energy X-ray scan of the body using a material decomposition method;
- identifying a region of interest corresponding to a liver (liver ROI) on the dual-energy X-ray scan;
- determining a soft tissue composition profile for the liver ROI wherein said composition profile includes total fat mass;
- identifying a body region of interest (body ROI) wherein the body ROI corresponds to a region extending from the liver ROI to the sides of the body.
- determining a soft tissue composition profile of the body ROI based on the soft tissue image from the dual-energy x-ray scan;
- estimating subcutaneous fat of the body ROI using the soft tissue composition profile;
- determining estimates of subcutaneous fat of the liver ROI from the subcutaneous fat of the body ROI;
- and
- determining a liver fat mass for the liver based on subtraction of the subcutaneous fat of the liver ROI from the total fat mass of the liver ROI.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.