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US 9,538,971 B2Granted
Systems for characterizing atherosclerotic plaque and methods of using same
AssigneeUniversity of Washington
InventorAdam Alessio
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present technology relates generally to systems for characterizing atherosclerotic plaque, such as a spectral CT system, and methods of using same.
Claims21
A device for characterizing atherosclerotic plaque, the device comprising:
- a multi-energy x-ray source including at least three x-rays with different energies;
- a detector configured to detect a plurality of x-rays emitted by the multi-energy x-ray source after passage through a blood vessel of a human subject including the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein the detector is further configured to (i) simultaneously count photons of at least three different energy levels, and (ii) generate aggregated spectral information corresponding to the detected plurality of x-rays;
- and
- a computer operably coupled to the detector and configured to decompose the aggregated spectral information to identify and quantify one or more components of the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein decomposing the aggregated spectral information comprises:
- constructing one or more images of linear attenuation for each of the at least three different energy levels at each location in the image, wherein each of the one or more images comprises a plurality of pixels;
- decomposing each of the constructed images using a weighted least squares estimation;
- and
- estimating a concentration of the one or more components in each pixel of each image of linear attenuation based on differences in measured linear attenuation coefficients for each of the at least three different energy levels.
5 more elements
An x-ray computed tomography system, the system comprising:
- a polychromatic energy source, wherein the polychromatic energy source is a multi-energy x-ray source having including at least three x-rays with different energies;
- a detector configured to discriminate and count photons within at least three different energy bands;
- a platform disposed between the polychromatic energy source and the detector, the platform configured to temporarily secure atherosclerotic plaque at a predetermined distance from the polychromatic energy source;
- and
- a computer configured to receive the photon counts from the detector and generate at least one tomographic slice image of the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein the tomographic slice image includes information identifying and quantifying one or more components of the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein generating the information identifying and quantifying one or more components of the atherosclerotic plaque is generated by:
- constructing one or more images of linear attenuation for each of the at least three different energy bands at each location in the image, wherein each of the one or more images comprises a plurality of pixels;
- decomposing each of the constructed images using a weighted least squares estimation;
- and
- estimating a concentration of the one or more components in each pixel of each image of linear attenuation based on differences in measured linear attenuation coefficients for each of the at least three different energy bands.
6 more elements
A method for identifying and quantifying one or more components of an atherosclerotic plaque in a subject, the method comprising:
- providing a device comprising:
- a multi-energy x-ray source including at least three x-rays with different energies,
- a detector configured to detect a plurality of x-rays emitted by the multi-energy x-ray source, to simultaneously count photons of different energy thresholds, and to generate spectral information corresponding to the detected plurality of x-rays, and
- a computer configured to decompose the spectral information to identify and quantify one or more components of the atherosclerotic plaque;
- positioning a subject having atherosclerotic plaque between the multi-energy x-ray source and the detector;
- applying x-ray energy comprising photons at a plurality of energy levels from the multi-energy x-ray source to the subject;
- detecting a plurality of photons having at least three x-rays with different energies with the detector;
- converting the detected photons into spectral information as a function of the at least three energy bands;
- and
- decomposing the spectral information to provide an identity and quantity of one or more components of the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein the decomposing comprises:
- constructing one or more images of linear attenuation for each of the at least three energy bands at each location in the image, wherein each of the one or more images comprises a plurality of pixel;
- decomposing each of the constructed images using a weighted least squares estimation;
- and
- estimating a concentration of the one or more components in each pixel of each image of linear attenuation based on differences in measured linear attenuation coefficients for each of the at least three energy bands.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.