Detection of thrombi in CT using energy discrimination
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDeborah Joy Walter, Yanfeng Du, Kelly Lynn Piacsek
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Abstract
An imaging scanner includes a radiation source, a radiation detector, and a computer programmed to decompose CT data acquired by the radiation detector into a set of pixels, each pixel having at least a first basis material content and a second basis material content. The computer is further programmed to identify a first subset of the set of pixels as a possible embolism, based on the content of the first basis material and the content of the second basis material.
Claims27
An imaging scanner comprising:
- a radiation source;
- a radiation detector;
- and
- a computer programmed to:
- decompose CT data acquired by the radiation detector into a set of pixels, each pixel having at least a first basis material content and a second basis material content;
- identify a first subset of the set of pixels as a possible embolism, based on a first predetermined content of both the first basis material and the second basis material;
- and
- generate a conventional CT image using the CT data, the conventional CT image having the first subset of pixels highlighted.
A method of CT imaging comprising the steps of:
- acquiring energy sensitive CT data from an ROI of a subject;
- classifying the acquired energy sensitive CT data as pixels having content from a first basis material and content from a second basis material;
- and
- determining a first set of the classified pixels as a possible blood clot based on a first preset content of both the first basis material and the second basis material.
A computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon and representing a set of instructions that when executed by a computer causes the computer to:
- determine, prior to acquiring CT data, a first basis material content and a second basis material content likely to indicate presence of a blood clot in a CT image constructed from energy sensitive CT data;
- receive energy sensitive CT data acquired from a subject;
- decompose the energy sensitive CT data into two basis material datasets;
- assign a first basis material content and a second basis material content to each pixel of an image;
- identify a first set of pixels in the image as possible blood clot having the determined first and second basis material content that indicate presence of a blood clot;
- and
- reconstruct a conventional CT image with the first set of pixels highlighted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.