Method, apparatus, and product for accurately determining the intima-media thickness of a blood vessel
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for determining the intima-media thickness of the near and/or far wall of a blood vessel comprising:
- a. capturing pixel images from an ultrasound machine'"'"'s scan of a desired segment of blood vessels and inputting said blood vessel pixel images into a computer, b. inputting an analyzer program into the computer which determines the calibrated pixel size of the ultrasound image using at least one of the following mechanisms;
i. operator specifies two points on the ultrasound image and also specifies the distance between the two specified points, after which the analyzer program computes the calibrated pixel size and assumes this size for both vertical and horizontal dimensions, ii. operator specifies two horizontal points as well as the distance between these two horizontal points and also specifies two vertical points and the distance between these two vertical points, after which the analyzer program computes the horizontal calibrated pixel size and the vertical calibrated pixel size, iii. the analyzer program recognizes known landmarks and characteristics on the ultrasound image and determines the image from a known ultrasound device with a known zoom/scale factor, and a known distance between found landmarks, to determine how many pixels are between a set of vertical and/or horizontal landmarks without operator intervention, c. activating the analyzer program to computer locate via pixel image intensities the lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries of a blood vessel'"'"'s near and/or far wall using at least one of the following operator inputs;
i. operator specifies a single pixel image position as the analyzer program'"'"'s horizontal center, left, or right position in the measurement region, ii. operator specifies a left, right, and/or overall width constraint iii. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, iv. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, v. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, vi. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, vii. operator specifies a smoothness factor to determine how jaggy the lumen/intima and/or the media/adventitia pixel paths can be, and d. computer calculating the averaged distance between lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries.
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Abstract
An apparatus, automated method technique and product for accurately determining the intima-media thickness of a blood vessel.
90 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for determining the intima-media thickness of the near and/or far wall of a blood vessel comprising:
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a. capturing pixel images from an ultrasound machine'"'"'s scan of a desired segment of blood vessels and inputting said blood vessel pixel images into a computer, b. inputting an analyzer program into the computer which determines the calibrated pixel size of the ultrasound image using at least one of the following mechanisms;
i. operator specifies two points on the ultrasound image and also specifies the distance between the two specified points, after which the analyzer program computes the calibrated pixel size and assumes this size for both vertical and horizontal dimensions, ii. operator specifies two horizontal points as well as the distance between these two horizontal points and also specifies two vertical points and the distance between these two vertical points, after which the analyzer program computes the horizontal calibrated pixel size and the vertical calibrated pixel size, iii. the analyzer program recognizes known landmarks and characteristics on the ultrasound image and determines the image from a known ultrasound device with a known zoom/scale factor, and a known distance between found landmarks, to determine how many pixels are between a set of vertical and/or horizontal landmarks without operator intervention, c. activating the analyzer program to computer locate via pixel image intensities the lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries of a blood vessel'"'"'s near and/or far wall using at least one of the following operator inputs;
i. operator specifies a single pixel image position as the analyzer program'"'"'s horizontal center, left, or right position in the measurement region, ii. operator specifies a left, right, and/or overall width constraint iii. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, iv. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, v. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, vi. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, vii. operator specifies a smoothness factor to determine how jaggy the lumen/intima and/or the media/adventitia pixel paths can be, and d. computer calculating the averaged distance between lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for determining the intima-media thickness of the near and/or far wall of a blood vessel comprising:
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a. means for capturing pixel images from an ultrasound machine'"'"'s scan of a desired segment of blood vessels and inputting said blood vessel pixel images into b. a standalone or embedded computer, c. an analyzer program inputted into the standalone or embedded computer which determines the calibrated pixel size of the ultrasound image using at least one of the following mechanisms;
i. operator specifies two points on the ultrasound image and also specifies the distance between the two specified points, after which the analyzer program computes the calibrated pixel size and assumes this size for both vertical and horizontal dimensions, ii. operator specifies two horizontal points as well as the distance between these two horizontal points and also specifies two vertical points and the distance between these two vertical points, after which the analyzer program computes the horizontal calibrated pixel size and the vertical calibrated pixel size, iii. the analyzer program recognizes known landmarks and characteristics on the ultrasound image and determines the image is from a known ultrasound device and is also at a known zoom/scale factor and can therefore determine how many pixels are between a set of vertical and/or horizontal landmarks and, since it knows from which ultrasound device the image originated, it knows the distance between the found landmarks, and can therefore computer the calibrated pixel size without operator intervention since it has determined the number of pixels and knows the distance across those pixels,
whereby the analyzer program causes the computer to locate via pixel image intensities the lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries of a blood vessel'"'"'s near and/or far wall using at least one of the following operator inputs;
i. operator specifies a single pixel image position as the analyzer program'"'"'s horizontal center, left, or right position in the measurement region, ii. operator specifies a left, right, and/or overall width constraint iii. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, iv. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, v. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, vi. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, vii. operator specifies a smoothness factor to determine how jaggy the lumen/intima and/or the media/adventitia pixel paths can be, and calculates the averaged distance between lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer program product embedded on a computer-readable medium for determining the intima-media thickness of the near and/or far wall of a blood vessel comprising:
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a. capturing pixel images from an ultrasound machine'"'"'s scan of a desired segment of blood vessels and inputting said blood vessel pixel images into a standalone or embedded computer, b. determining the calibrated pixel size of the ultrasound image using at least one of the following mechanisms;
i. operator specifies two points on the ultrasound image and also specifies the distance between the two specified points, after which the analyzer program computes the calibrated pixel size and assumes this size for both vertical and horizontal dimensions, ii. operator specifies two horizontal points as well as the distance between these two horizontal points and also specifies two vertical points and the distance between these two vertical points, after which the analyzer program computes the horizontal calibrated pixel size and the vertical calibrated pixel size, iii. the analyzer program recognizes known landmarks and characteristics on the ultrasound image and determines the image is from a known ultrasound device and is also at a known zoom/scale factor and can therefore determine how many pixels are between a set of vertical and/or horizontal landmarks and, since it knows from which ultrasound device the image originated, it knows the distance between the found landmarks, and can therefore computer the calibrated pixel size without operator intervention since it has determined the number of pixels and knows the distance across those pixels. c. locating via pixel image intensities the lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries of a blood vessel'"'"'s near and/or far wall using one or more of the following operator inputs;
i. operator specifies a single pixel image position as the analyzer program'"'"'s horizontal center, left, or right position in the measurement region, ii. operator specifies a left, right, and/or overall width constraint iii. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, iv. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the media/adventitia pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, v. operator specifies an inner constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to no closer than this boundaries distance to the center of the blood vessel, vi. operator specifies an outer constraint distance, boundary line, multi-segment boundary line, boundary spline curve or polynomial boundary curve to constrain the lumen/intima pixel path to within this boundaries distance from the center of the blood vessel, vii. operator specifies a smoothness factor to determine how jaggy the lumen/intima and/or the media/adventitia pixel paths can be, d. calculating the averaged distance between lumen/intima and media/adventitia boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification