Medical processing apparatus, X-ray diagnosis system, and medical processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11172894-B2
Application number	US-201916728146-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2019
Priority date	Dec 27, 2018
Publication date	Nov 16, 2021
Grant date	Nov 16, 2021

Abstract

A medical processing apparatus includes processing circuitry. Based on a first number of X-ray datasets that correspond to the first number of energies and that are acquired by scanning a subject with X-rays, the processing circuitry generates a second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets, which is a number larger than the first number. Based on the second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets, the processing circuitry estimates quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or a mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials for each of multiple positions in the subject.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A medical processing apparatus comprising:
processing circuitry configured to
estimate, based on a first number of X-ray datasets that correspond to a first number of energies and that are acquired by scanning a subject with X-rays, quantities of the first number of reference materials mixed or a mixing ratio between the first number of reference materials for each of multiple positions in the subject,
generate, based on the quantities of the first number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the first number of reference materials, a second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets, the second number being larger than the first number, and
estimate, based on the second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets, quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or a mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials for each of the multiple positions in the subject.

2. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the X-ray datasets and the virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets is an image dataset.

3. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the X-ray datasets and the virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets is a projection dataset.

4. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to estimate the quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials based on values each representing absorption of X-rays at each position in each of the second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets and values each representing absorption of X-rays by each of the second number of reference materials.

5. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to estimate the quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials according to a simultaneous equation representing the values each representing absorption of X-rays at each position in each of the second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets by the values each representing absorption of X-rays by each of the second number of reference materials.

6. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the X-ray datasets are obtained by detecting the X-rays that have transmitted through the subject using an energy integration X-ray detector.

7. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the X-ray datasets are obtained by detecting the X-rays that have transmitted through the subject using a photon counting X-ray detector.

8. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the first number is 2, and
the second number is 3.

9. The medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to generate output data by inputting the quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials that is estimated based on the first number of X-ray datasets corresponding to the first number of energies to a trained model that generates the output data that apparently represent the quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials that is obtained from the second number of X-ray datasets corresponding to the second number of energies that are discriminated using a photon counting X-ray detector based on the quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials that is estimated based on the first number of X-ray data sets corresponding to the first number of energies.

10. An X-ray system comprising the medical processing apparatus according to claim 1 .

11. A medical processing method comprising:
estimating, based on a first number of X-ray datasets that correspond to a first number of energies and that are acquired by scanning a subject with X-rays, quantities of the first number of reference materials mixed or a mixing ratio between the first number of reference materials for each of multiple positions in the subject,
generating, based on the quantities of the first number of reference materials mixed or the mixing ratio between the first number of reference materials, a second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets, the second number being larger than the first number, and
estimating, based on the second number of virtual monochromatic X-ray datasets, quantities of the second number of reference materials mixed or a mixing ratio between the second number of reference materials for each of the multiple positions in the subject.

Assignees

• Canon Medical Systems Corp

Inventors

• Taguchi Hiroki

Classifications

• A61B6/032 Primary

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61B6/5205

  involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data · CPC title

• A61B6/4452

  the source unit and the detector unit being able to move relative to each other · CPC title

• A61B6/482 Primary

  involving multiple energy imaging · CPC title

• A61B6/4208

  characterised by using a particular type of detector · CPC title