METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IN VITRO ANALYSIS OF THE PHYSICAL RESPONSE OF BLOOD-VESSELS TO VASO-ACTIVE AGENTS

• US 20110135171A1
• Filed: 12/09/2009
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Manipal Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Manipal Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Nayak, Rohit, Galigekere, Ramesh R., Sørensen, Mikkel Brydegaard, Rao, J. Prakasa
• Granted Patent: US 8,929,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10056 Microscopic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30024 Cell structures in vitro; Tissue sections in vitro
• 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 7/174 involving the use of two or more images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/62 of area, perimeter, diameter or volume
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/03 Recognition of patterns in medical or anatomical images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A method includes determining, with a computing device, one or more of a hue value, a saturation value, and an intensity value of a pixel in a region of interest of an image of a blood vessel sample. A physical response of the blood vessel sample to a vaso-active agent is determined based at least in part on one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, with a computing device, one or more of a hue value, a saturation value, and an intensity value of a pixel in a region of interest of an image of a blood vessel sample; and

determining a physical response of the blood vessel sample to a vaso-active agent based at least in part on the one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the vaso-active agent to at least a portion of the blood vessel sample.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a specification of the region of interest on the image, wherein the region of interest includes at least a lumen of the blood vessel sample; and

transposing the region of interest onto one or more additional images of the blood vessel sample.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a histogram based at least in part on one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

identifying a peak of the histogram; and

determining an area of the peak of the histogram, wherein the physical response of the blood vessel sample is based at least in part on the area of the peak of the histogram, and wherein the area of the peak of the histogram corresponds to an area of a lumen of the blood vessel sample.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a normalized value of the pixel based at least in part on one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value, wherein the physical response is based at least in part on the normalized value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating one or more of a hue image based at least in part on the hue value, a saturation image based at least in part on the saturation value, and an intensity image based at least in part on the intensity value; and

generating one or more of a normalized hue histogram based at least in part on the hue image, a normalized saturation histogram based at least in part on the saturation image, and a normalized intensity histogram based at least in part on the intensity image.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining one or more of a hue threshold based at least in part on the normalized hue histogram, a saturation threshold based at least in part on the normalized saturation histogram, and an intensity threshold based at least in part on the normalized intensity histogram;

comparing one or more of the hue value to the hue threshold, the saturation value to the saturation threshold, and the intensity value to the intensity threshold; and

determining, based at least in part on the comparison, whether the pixel corresponds to tissue of the blood vessel sample or to a lumen of the blood vessel sample.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more of the hue threshold, the saturation threshold, and the intensity threshold are determined using a maximum entropy principle.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the physical response comprises a change in area of the lumen of the blood vessel sample, and further comprising plotting the change in area of the lumen as a function of time.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a red value, a green value, and a blue value of the pixel, wherein the one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value are based at least in part on the red value, the green value, and the blue value.

12. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store an image of a blood vessel sample; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to;

determine one or more of a hue value, a saturation value, and an intensity value of a pixel in a region of interest of the image of the blood vessel sample; and

determine a physical response of the blood vessel sample to a vaso-active agent based at least in part on one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a chamber configured to receive the blood vessel sample and the vaso-active agent that is applied to the blood vessel sample; and

a camera configured to capture the image of the blood vessel sample.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine, based at least in part on the one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value, a first area of a lumen of the blood vessel sample prior to application of the vaso-active agent to the blood vessel sample; and

determine a second area of the lumen of the blood vessel sample subsequent to application of the vaso-active agent to the blood vessel sample, wherein the physical response is based at least in part on a difference between the first area and the second area.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a light source configured to illuminate the blood vessel sample, wherein the light source is mounted underneath a sample platform of a microscope.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to identify a red value, a green value, and a blue value of the pixel, and wherein the one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value are determined based at least in part on the red value, the green value, and the blue value of the pixel.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a histogram corresponding to the image based at least in part on the one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value; and

determine one or more of a hue threshold, a saturation threshold, and an intensity threshold based at least in part on the histogram, wherein the physical response of the blood vessel is determined based at least in part on the one or more of the hue threshold, the saturation threshold, and the intensity threshold.

18. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for determining one or more of a hue value, a saturation value, and an intensity value of a pixel in a region of interest of an image of a blood vessel sample; and

instructions for determining a physical response of the blood vessel sample to a vaso-active agent based at least in part on one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for transposing the region of interest onto one or more additional images of the blood vessel sample, wherein the region of interest includes at least a lumen of the blood vessel sample;

.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

instructions for generating one or more of a hue image based at least in part on the hue value, a saturation image based at least in part on the saturation value, and an intensity image based at least in part on the intensity value;

instructions for generating one or more of a normalized hue histogram based at least in part on the hue image, a normalized saturation histogram based at least in part on the saturation image, and a normalized intensity histogram based at least in part on the intensity image;

instructions for determining one or more of a hue threshold based at least in part on the normalized hue histogram, a saturation threshold based at least in part on the normalized saturation histogram, and an intensity threshold based at least in part on the normalized intensity histogram;

instructions for comparing one or more of the hue value to the hue threshold, the saturation value to the saturation threshold, and the intensity value to the intensity threshold; and

instructions for determining, based at least in part on the comparison, whether the pixel corresponds to tissue of the blood vessel sample or to a lumen of the blood vessel sample.