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US 6,650,924 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for the automatic recognition of pneumothorax
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsRainer Kuth, Thomas Rupprecht, Maren Wagner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an apparatus for the recognition of pneumothorax using thorax MR exposures, an evaluation device segments the image of the rib cage, including its surroundings, and characterizes a zone detected between rib cage and lung, preferably in the exhaled condition, that has an MR signal elevated by a prescribed safety margin compared to the noise signal in air.
Claims7
An apparatus for automatic recognition of pneumothorax comprising:
- an evaluation unit supplied with data representing a thorax MR exposure containing a thorax region between the rib cage and a lung including a portion of the pleural cavity and also containing an exposure region of air outside of the thorax, said evaluation unit identifying a noise signal of air in said exposure region and dividing only said thorax region between the rub cage and a lung on said image into a plurality of segments and identifying any of said segments having an MR signal therein which is elevated by a predetermined margin compared to the noise signal in air;
- and
- a display unit connected to said evaluation unit wherein said identified segments are displayed with a visually perceptible indication.
A method for automatic recognition of pneumothorax comprising the steps of:
- obtaining a thorax MR exposure of a subject, said thorax MR exposure containing a thorax region between the rib cage and a lung including a portion of the pleural cavity and also containing an exposure region of air outside of the thorax;
- in a computational unit automatically dividing only said thorax region between the rib cage and a lung in said image into a plurality of segments;
- in a computational unit automatically evaluating the respective MR signals in said segments in said computational unit;
- in said computational unit, automatically identifying a noise signal of air in said exposure region identifying any of said segments having an MR signal which is elevated above a predetermined margin compared to the noise signal in air;
- and
- displaying said thorax MR exposure with said identified segments having a visually perceptible indication.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.