METHOD APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR ANALYZING THERMAL IMAGES

• US 20110021944A1
• Filed: 12/28/2008
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Real Imaging Ltd (Real Imaging Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Real Imaging Ltd (Real Imaging Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Arnon, Israel Boaz, Arieli, Yoel
• Granted Patent: US 10,299,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/549
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part

Abstract

A method of identifying a thermally distinguishable region in a living body is disclosed. The method comprises determining transient thermal history of a surface of the living body, and estimating a location or presence of the thermally distinguishable region in the living body based on the transient thermal history.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a thermally distinguishable region in a living body comprising:

determining transient thermal history of a surface of the living body; and

estimating a location or presence of the thermally distinguishable region in the living body based on said transient thermal history.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining said transient thermal history comprises obtaining a series of thermospatial representations describing a section of the living body, and extracting said transient thermal history of said body section based on thermal variations among said series.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising estimating a size of said internal thermally distinguishable region, based on said transient thermal history.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing said transient thermal history to a reference transient thermal history, so as to determine the likelihood for said presence of said thermally distinguishable region.

5. A method of treating a tumor in a body section, the tumor being an internal thermally distinguishable region in the body section, the method comprising:

(a) executing the method of claim 3 to estimate a size of the tumor;

(b) applying a destructive treatment to the tumor; and

(c) executing the method of claim 3 to re-estimate said size.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising repeating said (b) and said (c) until said size satisfies a predetermined criterion.

7. A method of monitoring evolution of a tumor in a body section, the tumor being an internal thermally distinguishable region in the body section, the method comprising executing the method of claim 3 a plurality of times to estimate a size of the tumor at each execution, thereby monitoring the evolution of the tumor.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein at least two thermospatial representations of said series describe said body section while having at least two different shapes.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein a change in an ambient temperature at a surface of said body section is imposed between at least two successive thermospatial representations of said series.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said location of said internal thermally distinguishable region is estimated by determining amount of temperature change for each point of a plurality of points over a surface of said body section.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said location of said internal thermally distinguishable region is estimated by determining a temperature change rate for said point.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said location of said internal thermally distinguishable region is estimated by comparing a temperature change rate of one point of said plurality of points to a temperature change rate of another point of said plurality of points.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said location of said internal thermally distinguishable region is estimated by determining onset of a steady thermal state for said point.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said location of said internal thermally distinguishable region is estimated by determining onset of temperature change for said point.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising calculating a deformation function mapping one shape of said at least two different shapes to another shape of said at least two different shapes.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said extraction of said transient thermal history is done by selecting a set of points belonging to one thermospatial representation of said series, utilizing said deformation function for determining a corresponding set of points belonging to another thermospatial representation of said series, and determining an individual thermal variation for each point in said set.

22. The method of claim 2, further comprising estimating characteristic heat conduction of said body section based on said series.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein said body section is a breast of a woman.

8. Apparatus for locating a thermally distinguishable region within a living body, comprising:

an input unit for receiving a series of thermospatial representations describing a section of a living body; and

a computing platform configured for extracting transient thermal history of said body section based on thermal variations present in said series, and estimating a location or presence of an internal thermally distinguishable region in said body section based on said transient thermal history.

9. An imaging and processing system, comprising the apparatus of claim 8 and a thermospatial imaging system operable to provide said input unit with said series of thermospatial representations.

10. The apparatus or system of claim 8, wherein said apparatus further comprises a size estimator, configured for estimating a size of said internal thermally distinguishable region, based on said transient thermal history.

11. The apparatus or system of claim 8, wherein said computing platform is configured for comparing said transient thermal history to a reference transient thermal history, so as to determine the likelihood for said presence of said thermally distinguishable region.

20. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein at least two thermospatial representations of said series describe said body section while having at least two different shapes and wherein said computing platform is configured for calculating a deformation function which maps one shape of said at least two different shapes to another shape of said at least two different shapes.

23. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said computing platform is configured for estimating characteristic heat conduction of said body section based on said series.