IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPARATUS

• US 20130289387A1
• Filed: 04/25/2013
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Shiodera, Taichiro, Nitta, Shuhei, Takeguchi, Tomoyuki, Matsumoto, Nobuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,693,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/419
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/026 for the brain
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/546 Interface between the MR system and the user, e.g. for controlling the operation of the MR system or for the design of pulse sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56308 Characterization of motion or flow; Dynamic imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30016 Brain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing

Abstract

An image processing apparatus according to an embodiment includes a specifying unit and a deriving unit. The specifying unit specifies a fluid region in a plurality of magnetic resonance images that are acquired by applying a labeling pulse to a label region and that are mutually related. The deriving unit derives an index indicating dynamics of a fluid on the basis of the specified fluid region.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a specifying unit configured to specify a fluid region in a plurality of magnetic resonance images that are acquired by applying a labeling pulse to a label region and that are mutually related; and

a deriving unit configured to derive an index indicating dynamics of a fluid on a basis of the specified fluid region.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies the fluid region including a labeled fluid region corresponding to a fluid labeled by the labeling pulse, and a non-labeled fluid region corresponding to a fluid not labeled by the labeling pulse.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the specifying unit further specifies the labeled fluid region in the fluid region.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies the fluid region in the images that have been acquired along a time series.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the specifying unit specifies the fluid region in accordance with a temporal change in a signal intensity of the images.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the deriving unit derives the index, on a basis of a feature value of the specified fluid region in the plurality of the images acquired along a time series.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the deriving unit derives the index, on a basis of a feature value of each position of the specified fluid region.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a display controlling unit configured to exercise control so that the index derived along the time series is displayed on a display unit along the time series.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display controlling unit further displays, on the display unit, an image corresponding to at least one of the time phases from among the images corresponding to the plurality of time phases and displays a feature value used for deriving the index so as to be superimposed on the image displayed on the display unit.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the display controlling unit displays the feature value so as to be superimposed on the image by using a certain symbol.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the display controlling unit displays the feature value in a certain color so as to be superimposed on the image.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the specifying unit specifies the fluid region in cross-sectional images that make it possible to view the fluid along at least one selected from a moving direction and a diffusion direction of the fluid.

13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the specifying unit specifies the fluid region in an image acquired by applying a labeling pulse to a label region set in an imaging region.

14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the deriving unit derives the index on a basis of position information of the label region.

15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, after a morphological region in which the fluid is flowing and which corresponds to anatomical morphology is specified within the images, the deriving unit derives the index by using a straight line or a curve that passes through the morphological region.

16. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the deriving unit derives the index by using one of the following:

a position of such a pixel that has a long distance from a reference position specified in the images;

a position of such a pixel that has a long distance from the reference position, the distance being calculated along a straight line or a curve; and

a position of a pixel at a gravity point within the region.

17. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:

an acquiring unit configured to set a label region where cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is flowing, within an imaging region, and to acquire images corresponding to a plurality of time phases along a time series by applying a labeling pulse to the label region;

a specifying unit configured to specify a CSF region in the images corresponding to the plurality of time phases; and

a deriving unit configured to derive an index indicating dynamics of a CSF on a basis of the specified CSF region, wherein

the acquiring unit limits a range of imaging timing with which the images are acquired, by using a time at which longitudinal magnetization of the CSF become zero as a reference.

18. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the specifying unit specifies the CSF region including a labeled CSF region corresponding to a CSF labeled by the labeling pulse, and a non-labeled CSF region corresponding to a CSF not labeled by the labeling pulse.

19. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the deriving unit derives the index, on a basis of a feature value of the specified CSF region in the plurality of the images acquired along a time series.

20. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the deriving unit derives the index, on a basis of a feature value of each position of the specified CSF region.