METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR OPTIMIZING HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION

• US 20080118021A1
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Haas, DeAnn Marie, Sirohey, Saad Ahmed, Avinash, Gopal B., Dutta, Sandeep, Skinner, John V., Gautham, Sardar Mal, Joshi, Mukta C., Nezet, Patricia Le
• Granted Patent: US 8,081,809 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/583 using calibration phantoms
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/006 Inverse problem, transformation from projection-space into object-space, e.g. transform methods, back-projection, algebraic methods

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for reconstructing a multiple resolution images of an object are provided. The method includes reconstructing a first three-dimensional image at a first resolution, determining at least one volume of interest in the generated image, and reconstructing a second three-dimensional image of the determined at least one volume of interest at a second resolution, the second resolution being higher than the first resolution such that a quantification of image structures is facilitated.

Claims

1. A method of reconstructing a multiple resolution images of an object comprising:

reconstructing a first three-dimensional image at a first resolution;

determining at least one volume of interest in the generated image; and

reconstructing a second three-dimensional image of the determined at least one volume of interest at a second resolution, the second resolution being higher than the first resolution such that a quantification of image structures is facilitated.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the object comprises a patient, said method further comprising acquiring image data of at least one of a heart and a thoracic cavity including at least one lung.

3. A method in accordance with claim 2 wherein determining at least one volume of interest in the generated image comprises determining at least one volume of interest that includes at least one of an airway and a plaque deposit.

4. A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising displaying the first image and the second image simultaneously wherein the second image is displayed within the first image at the location of the determined volume of interest.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising:

segmenting and analyzing the second image to extract at least one feature of interest; and

performing at least one quantification of at least one feature of interest.

6. A method in accordance with claim 5 wherein performing quantification comprises determining at least one of a dimension of a vessel along the entire vessel length, a dimension of an airway along the entire airway length, dimension of the a at a midpoint between two branch end points in a segmented vessel tree, a dimension of a airway at a midpoint between two branch end points in a segmented airway tree, a dimension of a plaque deposit, and a composition of a plaque deposit.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising determining reconstruction parameters for the second image based on at least one of the first image construction parameters, an imaging system solution, a determined image accuracy requirement, and an adaptively determined parameter.

8. An imaging system comprising:

a stationary member;

a rotating member rotatably coupled to said stationary member, the rotating member having an opened area proximate an axis about which the rotating member rotates;

an x-ray source provided on the rotating member;

an x-ray detector disposed on the rotating member and configured to receive x-rays from the x-ray source; and

a processor communicatively coupled to at least one of said x-ray source and said x-ray detector, said processor configured to receive image data relating to an object and then;

reconstruct a first image at a first resolution using the received image data;

determine at least one volume of interest in the generated image; and

reconstruct a second image of the determined at least one volume of interest at a second resolution, the second resolution being greater than the first resolution such that a quantification of image structures is facilitated.

9. A system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said processor is further configured to receive image data of at least one of a heart and a thoracic cavity including at least one lung.

10. A system in accordance with claim 9 wherein said processor is further configured to determine at least one volume of interest that includes at least one of an airway and a plaque deposit.

11. A system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said processor is further configured to display the second image in the first image at the location of the determined volume of interest.

12. A system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said processor is further configured to:

segment and analyze the second image to extract at least one of a vessel tree, an airway tree, and a plaque deposit; and

perform at least one quantification of the at least one of a vessel tree, an airway tree, and a plaque deposit.

13. A system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said processor is further configured to determine at least one of a dimension of the vessel along the entire vessel length, a dimension of the airway along the entire airway length, dimension of the vessel at a midpoint between two branch end points in the segmented vessel tree, a dimension of the airway at a midpoint between two branch end points in the segmented airway tree, a dimension of a plaque deposit, and a composition of a plaque deposit.

14. A system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said processor is further configured to determine reconstruction parameters for the second image based on at least one of the first image construction parameters, imaging system resolution, determined image accuracy requirements, and an adaptively determined parameter.

15. A method of reconstructing a multi-resolution image of a patient comprising:

receiving image data of at least one of a lung and a heart;

reconstructing a first image at a first resolution from the received data;

determining at least one volume of interest in the generated image; and

reconstructing a second image of the determined at least one volume of interest at a second resolution, the second resolution being greater than the first resolution such that a quantification of image structures is facilitated.

16. A method in accordance with claim 15 wherein determining at least one volume of interest comprises at least one of manually determining the volume of interest by a user and automatically determining the volume of interest based on a segmentation of the image data.

17. A method in accordance with claim 15 wherein determining at least one volume of interest in the generated image comprises determining at least one volume of interest that includes at least one of an airway and a plaque deposit.

18. A method in accordance with claim 15 further comprising displaying the first image and the second image simultaneously wherein the second image is displayed within the first image at the location of the determined volume of interest.

19. A method in accordance with claim 15 wherein further comprising:

segmenting and analyzing the second image to extract at least one of a vessel tree, an airway tree, and a plaque deposit; and

performing at least one quantification of the at least one of a vessel tree, an airway tree, and a plaque deposit.

20. A method in accordance with claim 15 wherein further comprising determining at least one of a dimension of the vessel along the entire vessel length, a dimension of the airway along the entire airway length, dimension of the vessel at a midpoint between two branch end points in the segmented vessel tree, a dimension of the airway at a midpoint between two branch end points in the segmented airway tree, a dimension of a plaque deposit, and a composition of a plaque deposit.