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US 8,009,793 B2Granted
Method for imaging plaque using dual energy CT
AssigneeMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
InventorsAlexander C. Langheinrich, Erik L. Ritman
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Abstract
Two x-ray CT images are acquired of arterial plaque using x-rays at two different energy levels. The reconstructed images are normalized by adjusting pixel brightness until pixels depicting a region containing calcium have substantially the same brightness. The normalized images are subtracted to produce an image that depicts iron in the arterial plaque.
Claims5
A method for imaging iron in arterial plaque with an x-ray computed tomography (CT) system, the steps comprising:
- a) acquiring image data of the plaque using the CT system operating at a first x-ray energy level;
- b) acquiring image data of the plaque using the CT system operating at a second x-ray energy level;
- c) reconstructing two images from the data acquired in respective steps a) and b);
- d) normalizing the reconstructed images by adjusting the levels of pixel intensities such that pixels depicting calcium have substantially the same intensity;
- and
- e) producing an image depicting iron by subtracting the normalized images produced in step d).
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.