Method and CT system for detecting and differentiating plaque in vessel structures of a patient
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorEckhard Hempel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and a CT system are disclosed for detecting and differentiating plaque in vessel structures of a patient. In at least one embodiment, a computed tomography system that is equipped with at least one focus detector system and, per focus detector system, with at least one transradiated x-ray/optical grating, is used to reconstruct the spatial distribution of the refractive index in the region of vessel structures of the patient from detected projection data. Further, at least one plaque form is highlighted in a pictorial display on the basis of a previously known value range of the refractive index for at least one plaque form.
Claims27
A method for detecting and differentiating plaque in vessel structures of a patient, the method comprising:
- reconstructing using a computed tomography system, including at least one focus detector system and, per focus detector system, at least one transradiated x-ray/optical grating, a spatial distribution of a refractive index in a region of vessel structures of the patient from detected projection data;
- and
- highlighting at least one plague form in a pictorial display on the basis of a previously known value range of the refractive index for the at least one plaque form.
A computed tomography (CT) system for detecting and differentiating plaque in vessel structures of a patient by phase contrast measurements, the system comprising:
- at least one focus detector system, including at least one transradiated x-ray/optical grating to generate and detect x-radiation;
- at least one analyzer detector system to measure a phase shift of impinging x-radiation;
- an arithmetic and control system to control the CT system and reconstruct and evaluate measured results;
- an output unit to output at least one of sectional and volume data;
- a memory, including a look up table of refractive indices with stored value ranges and related plaque forms;
- and
- a marking apparatus to mark on an output sectional and volume data regions whose refractive indices lie in the value range for at least one plaque form.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.