X-ray computed tomography apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12505545-B2
Application number	US-202318478731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2023
Priority date	Oct 3, 2022
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

An X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatus includes an X-ray tube configured to radiate X-rays; a detector configured to detect X-rays radiated by the X-ray tube and passed through a subject; a reconstruction processing unit configured to reconstruct imaging data output by the detector and generate CT image data and material decomposition image data; a first inference unit configured to perform inference on the material decomposition image data; a second inference unit configured to perform inference on the CT image data; and a display control unit configured to cause a display unit to display at least one of an inference result of the first inference unit and an inference result of the second inference unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatus comprising:
an X-ray tube configured to radiate X-rays; a detector configured to detect X-rays radiated by the X-ray tube and passed through a subject; a processor configured to: reconstruct imaging data output by the detector and generate CT image data and material decomposition image data; perform a first inference on the material decomposition image data; perform a second inference on the CT image data; and cause a display to display at least one of an inference result of the first inference and an inference result of the second inference, wherein the processor is configured to select at least one of the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference and cause the display to display a selected inference result, in response to both the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference being selected, cause the display to display, on the same screen, composite image data composed of the material decomposition image data and the CT image data, the inference result of the first inference, and the inference result of the second inference.

2 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the CT image data is integral image data.

3 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the inference result is selected from the first inference and the inference result of the second inference in accordance with an examination order.

4 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein, in a case where the examination order includes a predetermined first examination, select the inference result of the first inference.

5 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein, in a case where the examination order does not include a predetermined first examination, select the inference result of the second inference.

6 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in response to a predetermined material being detected in the material decomposition image data by the first inference, cause the display to display region information and material name information regarding the predetermined material.

7 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the display unit to display information indicating that inference has been performed on the material decomposition image data.

8 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to, in response to a predetermined lesion being detected in the CT image data by the second inference, cause the display to display region information and lesion name information regarding the predetermined lesion.

9 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the display to display information indicating that inference has been performed on the CT image data.

10 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the inference result of the first inference is different from the inference result of the second inference, select the inference result of the first inference.

11 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the display to display information indicating that the inference result of the first inference is different from the inference result of the second inference.

12 . The X-ray CT apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to perform emphasized display for a region in which the inference result of the first inference is different from the inference result of the second inference.

13 . An X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatus comprising:
an X-ray tube configured to radiate X-rays; a detector configured to detect X-rays radiated by the X-ray tube and passed through a subject; a processor configured to: reconstruct imaging data output by the detector and generate CT image data and material decomposition image data; perform a first inference on the material decomposition image data; perform a second inference on the CT image data; and cause a display to display at least one of an inference result of the first inference and an inference result of the second inference, wherein the processor is configured to select at least one of the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference and cause the display to display a selected inference result, wherein, in a case where the inference result of the first inference unit matches the inference result of the second inference, select either one of the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference.

14 . An information processing system comprising:
a processor configured to: perform first inference on material decomposition image data generated by reconstructing imaging data output by a detector of an X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatus; perform second inference on CT image data generated by reconstructing the imaging data output by the detector of the X-ray CT apparatus; and cause a display to display at least one of an inference result of the first inference and an inference result of the second inference, wherein the processor is configured to select at least one of the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference and cause the display to display a selected inference result, wherein the processor is configured to, in response to both the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference being selected, cause the display to display, on the same screen, composite image data composed of the material decomposition image data and the CT image data, the inference result of the first inference, and the inference result of the second inference.

15 . An information processing method comprising:
generating computed tomography (CT) image data and material decomposition image data that are based on X-rays radiated by an X-ray tube and passed through a subject; selecting at least one of an inference result of a first inference configured to perform inference on the material decomposition image data and an inference result of a second inference configured to perform inference on the CT image data; and causing a display to display an inference result selected, wherein in response to both the inference result of the first inference and the inference result of the second inference being selected, causing the display to display, on the same screen, composite image data composed of the material decomposition image data and the CT image data, the inference result of the first inference, and the inference result of the second inference.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method according to claim 15 .

17 . An information processing system comprising:
a processor configured to: perform a first inference on material decomposition image data generated by reconstructing imaging data output by a detector of an X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatus; perform a second inference on CT image data generated by reconstructing the imaging data output by the detector of the X-ray CT apparatus; and cause a display to display at least one of an inference result of the first inference and an inference result of the second inference; wherein the processor is configured to select at least one of the inference result of th

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Hirano Yoshinori
• Ueda Ryuta

Classifications

• A61B6/463

  characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display · CPC title

• G06T2207/10081

  Computed x-ray tomography [CT] · CPC title

• G06T2207/20084

  Artificial neural networks [ANN] · CPC title

• G06T2207/30096

  Tumor; Lesion · CPC title

• A61B6/035

  Mechanical aspects of CT · CPC title