METHOD AND DEVICE FOR IDENTIFYING AND ASSIGNING CORONARY CALCIFICATION TO A CORONARY VESSEL AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT

• US 20110118595A1
• Filed: 11/15/2010
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Aulbach, Peter, Niethammer, Matthias
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,106 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/425
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/504 for diagnosis of blood vessels, e.g. by angiography
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30101 Blood vessel; Artery; Vein; Vascular
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/136 involving thresholding
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/187 involving region growing; involving region merging; involving connected component labelling

Abstract

A method and a device are disclosed for identifying and assigning coronary calcification to at least one coronary vessel of a heart in a patient. In at least one embodiment, coronary calcification is identified on the basis of a 3D image data record of the heart in the patient, which data record was generated by an imaging instrument without contrast agent being administered; at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human is provided; and wherein the identified coronary calcification in the patient is assigned to at least one coronary vessel of the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human. At least one embodiment moreover relates to a computer program product, having a computer program that is stored on a medium that can be read by a computational unit, for carrying out the method for identifying and assigning coronary calcification when the computer program is loaded into the computational unit.

Claims

1. A method for identifying and assigning coronary calcification to at least one coronary vessel of a heart in a patient, the method comprising:

identifying coronary calcification based upon a 3D image data record of the heart in the patient, the 3D image data record being previously generated by an imaging instrument without contrast agent being administered to the patient;

providing at least one 3D model of a profile of the coronary vessels in a human; and

assigning the identified coronary calcification in the patient to at least one coronary vessel of the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human comprises, as coronary vessels, a right coronary artery, a left coronary artery, a left circumflex artery and a left anterior descending artery of the heart.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human is an artificially generated 3D model based on expert knowledge of anatomy or a 3D model generated on the basis of a multiplicity of measured 3D data records of hearts with coronary vessels from a number of humans.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

prescribing a diameter of a coronary vessel or a change in the diameter of a coronary vessel along the profile of the coronary vessel in the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 3D image data record of the heart in the patient includes a plurality of slice images, situated one behind the other in the axial direction, of the heart comprising pixels.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

identifying the pixels that represent coronary calcification in a slice image of the 3D image data record.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein mutually adjacent pixels that represent coronary calcification are interconnected within a slice image and across slice images, or are associated with one another, and form at least one spatial accumulation of pixels that represent coronary calcification.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein pixels that are at a distance of between one and thirty pixels from an initial pixel that represents coronary calcification are in the neighborhood of the initial pixel.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:

prescribing a distance range of pixels around an initial pixel that represents coronary calcification, in which further pixels that represent coronary calcification should be sought after.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein a spatial profile of the at least one accumulation of pixels that represent coronary calcification and the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human are related to one another or are compared to one another.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the at least one accumulation of pixels that represent coronary calcification is assigned to at least one coronary vessel in the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human on the basis of a similarity comparison between the spatial profile of the at least one accumulation of pixels that represent coronary calcification and the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 3D image data record includes voxels, wherein those voxels that represent coronary calcification in the 3D image data record of the heart in the patient are identified.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein mutually adjacent voxels that represent coronary calcification are interconnected, or are associated with one another, and form at least one spatial accumulation of voxels that represent coronary calcification.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein voxels that are at a distance of between one and thirty voxels from an initial voxel that represents coronary calcification are in the neighborhood of the initial voxel.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

prescribing a distance range of voxels around an initial voxel that represents coronary calcification, in which further voxels that represent coronary calcification should be sought after.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein a spatial profile of the at least one accumulation of voxels that represent coronary calcification and the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human are related to one another or are compared to one another.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the at least one accumulation of voxels that represent coronary calcification is assigned to at least one coronary vessel in the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human on the basis of a similarity comparison between the spatial profile of the at least one accumulation of voxels that represent coronary calcification and the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human and the identified coronary calcification in the patient, the coronary calcification is assigned to the at least one coronary vessel of the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human, are visualized.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein a volume of coronary calcification per coronary vessel is established.

21. A computer program product, comprising a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, for carrying out a method as claimed in claim 1 when the computer program is loaded into an run on a computational unit.

22. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human is an artificially generated 3D model based on expert knowledge of anatomy or a 3D model generated on the basis of a multiplicity of measured 3D data records of hearts with coronary vessels from a number of humans.

23. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein mutually adjacent pixels that represent coronary calcification are interconnected within a slice image and across slice images, or are associated with one another, and form at least one spatial accumulation of pixels that represent coronary calcification.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium including program segments for, when executed on a computer device, causing the computer device to implement the method of claim 1.

20. A device, comprising:

a storage unit to store a 3D image data record of a heart in a patient and a 3D model of a profile of coronary vessels in a human; and

a computational unit to

identify coronary calcification based upon a 3D image data record of the heart in the patient, the 3D image data record being previously generated by an imaging instrument without contrast agent being administered to the patient,

provide at least one 3D model of a profile of the coronary vessels in a human, and

assign the identified coronary calcification in the patient to at least one coronary vessel of the at least one 3D model of the profile of the coronary vessels in a human.