Quantitative structural assay of a nerve graft
AssigneeAxogen Corporation
InventorCurt DEISTER
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques are described for determining the quality of a nerve graft by assessing quantitative structural characteristics of the nerve graft. Aspects of the techniques include obtaining an image identifying laminin-containing tissue in the nerve graft; creating a transformed image using a transformation function of an image processing application on the image; using an analysis function of the image processing application, analyzing the transformed image to identify one or more structures in accordance with one or more recognition criteria; and determining one or more structural characteristics of the nerve graft derived from a measurement of the one or more structures.
Claims20
A method for assessing the quality of a nerve graft, the method comprising:
- obtaining an image identifying laminin-containing tissue in the nerve graft;
- creating a transformed image using a transformation function of an image processing application on the image;
- using an analysis function of the image processing application, analyzing the transformed image to identify one or more structure in accordance with one or more recognition criteria;
- and
- determining one or more structural characteristic of the nerve graft derived from a measurement of the one or more structure.
A method for assessing the structural quality of a nerve graft, the method comprising:
- obtaining an image of tissue, the image depicting a cross-section of the nerve graft, wherein the cross-section is treated with a stain that indicates the presence of laminin;
- selecting, using an image processing application, one or more nerve fascicles on the image;
- using the image processing application, creating a thresholded image, wherein the thresholded image distinguishes one or more visual aspects of the image;
- using a particle analysis feature of the image processing application on the thresholded image, identifying one or more endoneurial tubes contained within the boundary of the one or more nerve fascicles, wherein the particle analysis feature identifies the one or more endoneurial tubes in accordance with one or more recognition criteria;
- and
- determining one or more structural characteristics of the nerve graft derived from a measurement of the one or more endoneurial tubes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.