METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING MULTIPLE SERIES OF BIOLOGICAL IMAGES OBTAINED FROM A PATIENT

• US 20090129649A1
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olea medical
• Original Assignee: Olea medical
• Inventors: Djeridane, Faycal
• Granted Patent: US 8,320,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/481 involving the use of contrast agents
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/486 involving generating temporal series of image data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/507 for determination of haemodynamic parameters, e.g. perfusion CT
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5229 combining image data of a patient, e.g. combining a functional image with an anatomical image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20108 Interactive selection of 2D slice in a 3D data set
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30016 Brain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0014 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/44 using image operators, e.g. filters, edge density metrics or local histograms

Abstract

A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable program code stored thereon which, when interpreted by a computing apparatus, causes the computing apparatus to implement an image processing tool for processing a plurality of biological images arranged in a plurality of image series wherein certain biological images across different image series have a predefined correspondence with one another. The computer-readable program code comprises computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to: be attentive to receipt of an indication of a selected biological image from the plurality of biological images and belonging to a first one of the image series; be attentive to receipt of an indication of a segmentation mask created based on the selected biological image; apply the segmentation mask to a second biological image from the plurality of biological images, the second biological image belonging to a second one of the image series that is different from the first one of the image series, the second biological image having a predefined correspondence with the selected biological image; and display the second biological image after application of the segmentation mask.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable program code stored thereon which, when interpreted by a computing apparatus, causes the computing apparatus to implement an image processing tool for processing a plurality of biological images arranged in a plurality of image series wherein certain biological images across different image series have a predefined correspondence with one another, the computer-readable program code comprising:

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a selected biological image from the plurality of biological images and belonging to a first one of the image series;

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a segmentation mask created based on the selected biological image;

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the segmentation mask to a second biological image from the plurality of biological images, the second biological image belonging to a second one of the image series that is different from the first one of the image series, the second biological image having a predefined correspondence with the selected biological image; and

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to display the second biological image after application of the segmentation mask.

2. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a second segmentation mask created based on a third biological image from the plurality of biological images, the third biological image belonging to a third one of the image series that is different from the first one of the image series and different from the second one of the image series, the third biological image having a predefined correspondence with the selected biological image; and

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the second segmentation mask to the second biological image.

3. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the segmentation mask to a third biological image from the plurality of biological images, the third biological image belonging to a third one of the image series that is different from the first one of the image series and different from the second one of the image series, the third biological image having a predefined correspondence with the selected biological image; and

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to display the third biological image after application of the segmentation mask.

4. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the segmentation mask to the selected biological image.

5. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code for establishing the predefined correspondence between biological images in the first one of the image series and biological images in the second one of the image series.

6. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 5, wherein each of the biological images in the plurality of biological images is taken at a respective distance in a particular common direction, wherein to establish the predefined correspondence among a set of biological images in two or more of the image series, the respective distances at which any two of the biological images in the set are taken are constrained to be identical or to differ by no more than a maximum difference.

7. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 6, wherein each of the biological images in the plurality of biological images is a two-dimensional axial image, taken at a respective height.

8. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein each of the biological images in the plurality of biological images is a magnetic resonance image of a patient'"'"'s brain.

9. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 8, wherein biological images in different ones of the image series originate from respectively different radiological modalities.

10. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to register the biological images within a common frame of reference.

11. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 10, wherein to register the biological images within the common frame of reference, the computing apparatus is caused to perform at least one of a zooming operation, a rotation operation and a translation operation on at least some of the biological images.

12. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to simultaneously display a plurality of biological images in each of at least two of the image series.

13. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 12, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of a navigation command from a user to vary which biological images are being displayed.

14. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein each of the biological images in the plurality of biological images comprises an array of pixels or voxels having respective values, wherein, to apply the segmentation mask to a particular biological image, the computing apparatus is caused to determine for each pixel or voxel in the particular biological image whether the pixel or voxel is captured by the segmentation mask and, if so, to set the value of the pixel or voxel to a baseline value.

15. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 14, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to create the segmentation mask based on the selected biological image, wherein, to create the segmentation mask, the computing apparatus is caused to compare the value of each pixel or voxel in the selected biological image to a range and to add the pixel or voxel to the segmentation mask if the value of the pixel or voxel is outside the range.

16. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 15, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to record steps taken in creation and application of the segmentation mask.

17. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein the selected biological image comprises an array of pixels or voxels having respective values, the computer-readable storage medium further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to create the segmentation mask based on the selected biological image, wherein, to create the segmentation mask, the computing apparatus is caused to compare the value of each pixel or voxel in the selected biological image to a range and to add the pixel or voxel to the segmentation mask if the value of the pixel or voxel is outside the range.

18. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein the selected biological image comprises an array of pixels or voxels having respective values, the computer-readable storage medium further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to create the segmentation mask based on the selected biological image by adding to the segmentation mask a geometric figure identified based on user input.

19. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, wherein the selected biological image comprises an array of pixels or voxels having respective values, the computer-readable storage medium further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to create the segmentation mask based on the selected biological image by adding to the segmentation mask at least one region of pixels or voxels left isolated by creation of a previous segmentation mask.

20. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a new selected biological image from the plurality of biological images and belonging to the first one of the image series;

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a new segmentation mask created based on the new selected biological image; and

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the new segmentation mask to a third biological image from the plurality of biological images, the third biological image belonging to the second one of the image series, the third biological image having a predefined correspondence with the new selected biological image.

21. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 20, wherein following application of the segmentation mask and new segmentation mask to the second and third biological images, respectively, the second and third biological images each exhibit a remaining region corresponding to a cross-section of a volume of interest spanning the second and third biological images.

22. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 21, wherein the volume of interest represents a core ischemic zone.

23. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 22, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to effect a volumetric computation of the volume of interest.

24. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 23, wherein to effect the volumetric computation, the computing apparatus is caused to estimate the volume of interest based on (i) an area of the remaining region exhibited by each of the second and third biological images and (ii) an inter-slice distance between the second and third biological images.

25. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 24, further comprising:

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a second segmentation mask created based on a fourth biological image from the plurality of biological images and belonging to a particular one of the image series;

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the second segmentation mask to a fifth biological image from the plurality of biological images, the fifth biological image belonging to a given one of the image series that is different from the particular one of the image series, the fifth biological image having a predefined correspondence with the fourth biological image;

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a sixth biological image selected from the plurality of biological images and belonging to the particular one of the image series;

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to be attentive to receipt of an indication of a third segmentation mask created based on the sixth biological image; and

computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to apply the third segmentation mask to a seventh biological image from the plurality of biological images, the seventh biological image belonging to the given one of the image series, the seventh biological image having a predefined correspondence with the sixth biological image.

26. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 25, wherein following application of the second and third segmentation masks to the fifth and seventh biological images, respectively, the fifth and seventh biological images each exhibit a remaining region corresponding to a cross-section of a second volume of interest spanning the fourth and sixth biological images.

27. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 26, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to effect a volumetric computation of the second volume of interest.

28. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 27, wherein to effect the volumetric computation of the second volume of interest, the computing apparatus is caused to estimate the second volume of interest based on (i) an area of the remaining region exhibited by each of the fifth and seventh biological images and (ii) an inter-slice distance between the fifth and seventh biological images.

29. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 28, wherein the particular one of the image series is different from the first one of the image series and is different from the second one of the image series.

30. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 28, wherein the given one of the image series is different from the first one of the image series and is different from the second one of the image series.

31. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 28, wherein the particular one of the image series is one of the first one of the image series and the second one of the image series.

32. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 28, wherein the given one of the image series is one of the first one of the image series and the second one of the image series.

33. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 26, wherein the volume of interest represents a core ischemic zone.

34. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 33, wherein the second volume of interest represents a volume of an ischemic penumbra.

35. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 34, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to output the estimate of the volume of the core ischemic zone and the estimate of the volume of the ischemic penumbra.

36. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to output an estimate of a volume of a core ischemic zone and an estimate of a volume of an ischemic penumbra.

37. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 36, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to recommend administration or non-administration of a thrombolytic based on at least one of said volumes.

38. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 1, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to output an indication of a ratio of the volume of the core ischemic zone to the volume of the ischemic penumbra.

39. The computer-readable storage medium defined in claim 38, further comprising computer-readable program code for causing the computing apparatus to recommend administration or non-administration of a thrombolytic based on at least one of said volumes and said ratio.

40. A method, comprising:

obtaining a plurality of series of biological images including a first series and a second series, wherein certain ones of the images in the first series and certain ones of the images in the second series are corresponding;

creating a respective segmentation mask for each of at least one selected image in the first series;

applying each respective segmentation mask to the corresponding image in the second series; and

selecting a set of the images in the second series on which to effect a volumetric computation, the selected set of images in the second series including at least one image to which a respective segmentation mask has been applied.

41. The method defined in claim 40, wherein said creating and selecting are effected based on input from a user via a user interface.

42. The method defined in claim 40, wherein said creating and selecting are effected automatically in software.

43. The method defined in claim 40, further comprising:

creating for each of at least one of the images in the second series, a respective second segmentation mask;

applying each respective second segmentation mask to the respective image in the second series.

44. The method defined in claim 40, further comprising:

effecting a volumetric computation based on the images in the set.

45. The method defined in claim 44, wherein the biological images are two-dimensional and wherein the set of images includes at least two images in the second series.

46. The method defined in claim 45, wherein following application of the respective segmentation mask to a given image in the set, the given image exhibits a region corresponding to a cross-section of a volume of interest spanning the images in the set.

47. The method defined in claim 46, wherein effecting the volumetric computation comprises estimating the volume of interest based on (i) an area of the region exhibited by each image in the set to which a respective segmentation mask has been applied and (ii) an inter-slice distance between adjacent ones of the images in the set.

48. The method defined in claim 40, further comprising establishing a correspondence between the certain ones of the images in the first series and the certain ones of the images in the second series.

49. The method defined in claim 48, further comprising a prior step of registering each of the certain ones of the images in the first and the certain ones of the images in the second series within a common frame of reference.

50. The method defined in claim 49, wherein registering a particular image within a common frame of reference comprises one or more of zooming, rotating and translating the particular image relative to an original frame of reference.

51. The method defined in claim 40, wherein each of the images in the first series comprises an array of pixels or voxels having respective values, and wherein creating the segmentation mask for a particular image in the first series comprises comparing the value of each pixel or voxel in the particular image to a range and adding the pixel or voxel to the segmentation mask if the value of the pixel or voxel is outside the range.

52. The method defined in claim 51, wherein applying a segmentation mask to a particular image in the second series comprises determining for each pixel or voxel in the particular image in the second series whether the pixel or voxel is captured by the segmentation mask and, if so, setting the value of the pixel or voxel to a baseline value.

53. The method defined in claim 40, wherein each of the images in the first series comprises an array of pixels or voxels having respective values, wherein applying a segmentation mask to a particular image in the second series comprises determining for each pixel or voxel in the particular image whether the pixel or voxel is captured by the segmentation mask and, if so, setting the value of the pixel or voxel to a baseline value.

54. The method defined in claim 40, wherein the images are magnetic resonance images.

55. The method defined in claim 54, wherein the images in different ones of the image series originate from respectively different radiological modalities.

56. The method defined in claim 40, the volumetric computation being a first volumetric computation, the plurality of series of biological images including a third series, wherein certain ones of the images in the third series and certain ones of the images in the first series are corresponding, the method further comprising

applying each respective segmentation mask to the corresponding image in the third series;

and

selecting a second set of images in the third series on which to effect a second volumetric computation, the selected set of images in the third series including at least one image to which a respective segmentation mask has been applied.

57. The method defined in claim 56, wherein the second series includes one of B1000- or Apparent-Diffusion-Coefficient-type images.

58. The method defined in claim 57, wherein the third series includes perfusion-weighted images.

59. The method defined in claim 58, wherein the first series includes the other of B1000- or Apparent-Diffusion-Coefficient-type images.

60. The method defined in claim 56, wherein the first volumetric computation represents an estimate of a volume of a core ischemic zone.

61. The method defined in claim 60, wherein the second volumetric computation represents an estimate of a volume of an ischemic penumbra.

62. The method defined in claim 61, further comprising outputting the estimate of the volume of the core ischemic zone and the estimate of the volume of the ischemic penumbra.

63. The method defined in claim 62, further comprising outputting an indication of a ratio of the volume of the core ischemic zone to the volume of the ischemic penumbra.

64. The method defined in claim 61, further comprising outputting an indication of a ratio of the volume of the core ischemic zone to the volume of the ischemic penumbra.

65. The method defined in claim 64, further comprising outputting a signal indicative of a recommendation to administer or not to administer a thrombolytic.

66. The method defined in claim 65, further comprising deriving said recommendation based on at least one of said volumes and said ratio.

67. The method defined in claim 40, further comprising outputting a signal indicative of a recommendation to administer or not to administer a thrombolytic.

68. The method defined in claim 40, used in the diagnosis and/or treatment of ischemic stroke.

69. The method defined in claim 40, wherein the biological images are three-dimensional.

70. A system, comprising:

means for obtaining a plurality of series of biological images including a first series and a second series, wherein certain ones of the images in the first series and certain ones of the images in the second series are corresponding;

means for creating a respective segmentation mask for each of at least one selected image in the first series;

means for applying each respective segmentation mask to the corresponding image in the second series; and

means for selecting a set of the images in the second series on which to effect a volumetric computation, the selected set of images in the second series including at least one image to which a respective segmentation mask has been applied.

71. An image processing system for processing a plurality of biological images arranged in a plurality of image series wherein certain biological images across different image series have a predefined correspondence with one another, said image processing system comprising:

an input configured to;

receive an indication of a selected biological image from the plurality of biological images and belonging to a first one of the image series; and

receive an indication of a segmentation mask created based on the selected biological image;

a processing entity configured to apply the segmentation mask to a second biological image from the plurality of biological images, the second biological image belonging to a second one of the image series that is different from the first one of the image series, the second biological image having a predefined correspondence with the selected biological image; and

a display entity configured to cause display of the second biological image.

72. The image processing system defined in claim 71, wherein the display entity causes display of at least two images from the first series and at least two images from the second series all at the same time in graphically separate regions of a screen.

73. The image processing system defined in claim 71, wherein the processing entity is further configured to apply the segmentation mask to a third biological image from the plurality of biological images, the third biological image belonging to a third one of the image series that is different from the first one of the image series and different from the second one of the image series, the third biological image having a predefined correspondence with the selected biological image.

74. The image processing system defined in claim 73, wherein the display entity is further configured to:

cause display of the third biological image.

75. The image processing system defined in claim 74, wherein the display entity causes display of at least two images from the first series, at least two images of the second series and at least two of the images of the third series all at the same time in graphically separate regions of a screen.

76. The image processing system defined in claim 71, wherein the images include diffusion-weighted MRI images and perfusion-weighted MRI images.

77. A method of processing images that are arranged in a first series of biological images and a second series of biological images, each image being associated with a respective axial slice height, the method comprising:

a) initializing a threshold slice height difference;

b) attempting to identify one or more pairs of corresponding images such that (i) each pair of corresponding images includes one image from each of the first and second series and (ii) the images in each pair are associated with respective slice heights differing by no more than the threshold slice height difference;

c) increasing the threshold slice height difference;

d) repeating steps b) and c) until the threshold slice height difference reaches a maximum threshold slice height difference; and

e) for particular images in the first and second series that have been paired further to execution of step b), displaying each particular image in the first series in graphical correspondence with the particular image in the second series to which it is paired.

78. The method defined in claim 77, wherein the threshold slice height difference is initialized to a value of substantially zero.

79. The method defined in claim 77, further comprising providing a navigation bar to enable a selection of images in the first and second series to display, and displaying the images in accordance with the selection.

80. The method defined in claim 77, further comprising providing a touch-up panel to enable a selection of processing functions to be performed on the displayed images in a selected series.

81. The method defined in claim 80, further comprising varying a feature of the displayed images in the selected series in accordance with the selection.

82. The method defined in claim 81, wherein the feature is at least one of contrast, brightness and color scheme.

83. The method defined in claim 77, further comprising providing an autolevel function that can be activated.

84. The method defined in claim 83, wherein when the autolevel function is activated, the method comprises performing an autolevel of pixel or voxel intensities on all images in the selected series.

85. The method defined in claim 77, wherein displaying each image in the first series in graphical correspondence with the image in the second series to which it is paired comprises displaying the paired images alongside one another.

86. The method defined in claim 77, further comprising:

f) for each image in the first or second series that has not been paired further to execution of step b), pairing said image with a blank image and displaying said image in graphical correspondence with the blank image.