Image diagnostic device and an image diagnostic method for automatic assessment of the start and end of the inflow of a contrast medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9280817-B2
Application number	US-201214342087-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2012
Priority date	Oct 19, 2011
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

Provided is an image diagnostic device with which the start and end of the in-flow of a contrast medium are automatically assessed. An image diagnostic device assesses the start and end times of the in-flow of a contrast medium into organs in a lifeform which is a subject.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An image diagnostic device that evaluates a bloodstream dynamic state of a subject, the device comprising:
an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image on a basis of a signal received from a subject;
an assessment unit configured to:
approximate a shape of a time intensity course with an S-shaped function to create a model function, and
automatically assess a start and end of an inflow of a contrast medium on a basis of the shape of the time intensity course representing time changes of a brightness of the image, wherein the assessment of the start and end of the inflow of the contrast medium is further based on an inflection point of the model function; and
a display unit configured to display a result assessed by the assessment unit.

2. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein the assessment unit is further configured to perform a fitting process such as a least-square method that is generally used as an approximate process for the time intensity course using the S-shaped function.

3. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein the assessment unit is further configured to calculate a time near an inflection point using a maximum value of a function in which a temporal differentiation process is performed for the time intensity course in an approximate process.

4. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein the assessment unit is further configured to calculate a time near an inflection point using a frequency distribution of the time intensity course in an approximate process.

5. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , further comprising an external input unit configured to input a time near an inflection point of the time intensity course for the time intensity course displayed on the display unit in an approximate process.

6. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein the assessment unit is further on configured to assess the start and end times of the inflow of the contrast medium on a basis of intersection points of a tangent line at an inflection point of the model function and asymptotic lines provided above and under the model function, or on a basis of a frequency distribution of the time intensity course.

7. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , further comprising an external input unit, wherein the display unit is further configured to display the model function, the inflection point of the model function, and the inclination of the tangent line, and wherein the external input unit can finely tune the inflection point and the tangent line of the model function displayed on the display unit.

8. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein in a case where the contrast medium flows in through multiple stages, the assessment unit is further configured to create the model function using a function obtained by linearly combining the plural S-shaped functions to be obtained.

9. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein the display unit is further configured to display the time intensity course representing the time changes, the model function created by the assessment unit, the image information from the image acquisition unit, and the start and end times of the inflow of the contrast medium assessed by the assessment unit.

10. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , wherein the assessment unit is further configured to create the time intensity course after space and time average processes are performed for the image from the image acquisition unit.

11. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , the display unit is further configured to display the image information acquired from the image acquisition unit at the start and end times of the inflow of the contrast medium assessed by the assessment unit.

12. The image diagnostic device of claim 1 , further comprising an operation unit configured to operate an averaging or maximizing brightness of the image information acquired from the image acquisition unit.

13. An image assessment method to evaluate a bloodstream dynamic state of a subject, comprising:
acquiring, by an image acquisition unit, an image on a basis of a signal received from a subject;
approximating, by an assessment unit, a shape of a time intensity course with an S-shaped function to create a model function;
automatically assessing, by the assessment unit, a start time and end time of an inflow of a contrast medium on a basis of a shape of a time intensity course representing time changes of a brightness of the image, wherein the assessment, by the assessment unit, of the start and end of the inflow of the contrast medium is further based on an inflection point of the model function; and
displaying, by a display unit, a result assessed by the assessment unit.

Assignees

• Yoshikawa Hideki
• Hitachi Medical Corp

Inventors

• Yoshikawa Hideki

Classifications

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• G01R33/5601

  involving use of a contrast agent for contrast manipulation, e.g. a paramagnetic, super-paramagnetic, ferromagnetic or hyperpolarised contrast agent · CPC title

• A61B6/481

  involving the use of contrast agents · CPC title

• G06T2207/10016

  Video; Image sequence · CPC title

• G06T2207/30104

  Vascular flow; Blood flow; Perfusion · CPC title