Medical imaging system and method
AssigneeSignostics Limited
InventorsAndrew John Niemiec, Essa El-Aklouk
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Abstract
An ultrasound probe user's capture of image frames of a patient's organ is assisted by capturing one or more image frames of the ultrasound probe's a field of view; processing the captured image frames to detect a predetermined anatomical feature of the patient having a known positional relationship with the organ; and directing the user to adjust the ultrasound probe so as to locate the organ within its field of view, based on the known positional relationship.
Claims15
A system for guiding a user to aim an ultrasound probe to capture one or more image frames of an organ of a patient, the system including:
- an image processor for capturing one or more image frames of a field of view of the ultrasound probe;
- detecting means for processing the one or more captured image frames to detect the presence of a predetermined anatomical feature of the patient having a known positional relationship with the organ;
- and
- guiding means for directing the user to adjust the aim and/or position of the ultrasound probe so as to locate the organ within the field of view of the ultrasound probe based on the known positional relationship.
The system of claim 4 wherein the range of scanlines includes a plurality of adjacent scanlines of the respective set of scanlines such that the plurality of adjacent scanlines comprises 5% to 25% of the set of scanlines of the respective image frame.
The system of claim 5 wherein the bone detection threshold has a value depending on a normalised summation of intensity values for the respective set of scanlines of the respective image frame.
A method of guiding a user to aim an ultrasound probe to capture one or more image frames of an organ of a patient, the method including:
- capturing one or more image frames of a field of view of the ultrasound probe;
- processing the one or more captured image frames to detect the presence of a predetermined anatomical feature of the patient having a known positional relationship with the organ;
- and
- directing the user to adjust the aim and/or position of the ultrasound probe so as to locate the organ within the field of view of the ultrasound probe based on the known positional relationship.
A system for determining the volume of urine in a patient's bladder including:
- an ultrasound probe for capturing a plurality of ultrasound image frames;
- a memory storing a set of program instructions;
- one or more processors programmed with the set of program instructions for execution to cause the one or more processors to:
- process the plurality of captured image frames to detect an estimated location of the patient's pubic bone;
- use the estimated location of the pubic bone to estimate the location of the bladder;
- provide output information guiding the user to adjust the placement of the ultrasound probe according to the estimated location of the bladder so as to obtain a plurality of image frames including the bladder;
- and
- process the plurality of image frames of the bladder to determine the volume of urine in the bladder.
A method for determining the volume of urine in a patient's bladder including:
- operating an ultrasound probe to capture a plurality of ultrasound image frames;
- processing the plurality of captured image frames to detect an estimated location of the patient's pubic bone;
- using the estimated location of the pubic bone to estimate the location of the bladder;
- guiding the user to adjust the placement of the ultrasound probe according to the estimated location of the bladder so as to obtain a plurality of image frames including the bladder;
- and
- processing the plurality of image frames of the bladder to determine the volume of urine in the bladder.
A method for determining the volume of urine in a patient's bladder including:
- operating an ultrasound probe to capture a plurality of ultrasound image frames including an image of the bladder;
- processing each of the plurality of captured image frames to:
- determine the location of the bladder's anterior and posterior walls using an estimated location of the pubic bone;
- process scanlines including features of the anterior and posterior wall to select a respective range of scanlines proximal to end points of the anterior and posterior wall;
- apply an edge detection filter to each respective range to detect left and right side walls of the bladder based on intensity transitions across the extent of each respective range;
- and
- determine a volume slice using the detected walls of the bladder;
- determining the volume of urine in the bladder as the summation of each volume slice.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.