Systems and Methods for Quantifying Vessel Features in Ultrasound Doppler Images
AssigneeMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
InventorsAzra Alizad, Mahdi Bayad, Mostafa Fatemi, Seyed Siavash Ghavami Roudsari
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Abstract
Described here are systems and methods for quantifying vessel features in non-contrast microvasculature images obtained with an ultrasound imaging system. Vessel features that are quantified include, but are not limited to, vessel structure features (e.g., number of vessels, vessel density, number of branch points), vessel diameter, and vessel tortuosity. Morphological filtering is used to generate vessel segments from which the quantitative vessel features can be reliably quantified.
Claims18
A method for generating quantitative vessel feature data from non-contrast ultrasound data, the steps of the method comprising:
- (a) providing a microvasculature image to a computer system, the microvasculature image having been acquired with an ultrasound system from a subject without a contrast agent;
- (b) converting the microvasculature image to a binary image using the computer system,
- (b) generating vessel segment data from the binary image by morphologically filtering the binary image using the computer system, wherein the vessel segment data represent segmented vessels depicted in the microvasculature image;
- (c) generating quantitative vessel feature data from the vessel segment data, the quantitative vessel feature data comprising at least one of quantitative vessel structure data, quantitative vessel diameter data, or quantitative vessel tortuosity data;
- and
- (d) generating with the computer system a graphical user interface and displaying the quantitative vessel feature data to a user in connection with the graphical user interface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.