Methods, Systems and Computer Program Products for Dynamic Optical Histology Using Optical Coherence Tomography

• US 20150110376A1
• Filed: 10/22/2014
• Published: 04/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bioptigen, Inc. (Danaher Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bioptigen, Inc. (Danaher Corporation)
• Inventors: Gessner, Ryan, Buckland, Eric L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,471,975 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

Methods of acquiring an image are provided. The methods include deriving a first boundary surface from a volumetric image; deriving a second boundary surface, different and spaced apart from the first boundary surface, of the volumetric image, the first and second boundary surfaces defining a slice of the volumetric image therebetween; and deriving at least one intermediate thin section between the first and second boundary surfaces, the thin section having a thickness that is less than a thickness of the slice of the volumetric image defined by the first and second boundary surfaces. Systems and computer program products are also provided.

Claims

1. A method of acquiring an image, the method comprising:

deriving a first boundary surface from a volumetric image;

deriving a second boundary surface, different and spaced apart from the first boundary surface, of the volumetric image, the first and second boundary surfaces defining a slice of the volumetric image therebetween; and

deriving at least one intermediate thin section between the first and second boundary surfaces, the thin section having a thickness that is less than a thickness of the slice of the volumetric image defined by the first and second boundary surfaces,

wherein at least one of the deriving of the first boundary, the deriving of the second boundary and the deriving of the at least one intermediate thin section is performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one intermediate thin section conforms to a contour of the first and/or second boundary surface.

3. The method of claim 1:

wherein the at least one intermediate section comprises a plurality of intermediate sections;

wherein a first intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is adjacent to the first boundary surface and is derived from data that is axially conformal with the first boundary surface; and

wherein a second intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is adjacent to the second boundary surface and is derived from data that is axially conformal with the second boundary surface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a third intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is positioned between the first and second intermediate sections and derived from data between the first and second intermediate sections.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the third intermediate section is not conformal to the first or the second intermediate section and has an intermediate shape that logically transitions between the first and second intermediate sections.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the slice of the volumetric image comprises an en face projection derived from an entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the en face projection is derived from pixels that form the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one intermediate section comprises an en face projection derived from a fraction of the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the en face projection derived from a fraction of the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces is derived from a subset of the pixels that form the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the volumetric image is acquired using optical coherence tomography (OCT).

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the volumetric image is acquired using Fourier domain OCT (FDOCT).

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the at least one thin section.

13. A system for acquiring an image, the system comprising:

an imaging system for acquiring a volumetric image;

an image processing module coupled to the imaging system, the image processing module being configured to;

derive a first boundary surface from a volumetric image;

derive a second boundary surface, different and spaced apart from the first boundary surface, of the volumetric image, the first and second boundary surfaces defining a slice of the volumetric image therebetween; and

derive at least one intermediate thin section between the first and second boundary surfaces, the thin section having a thickness that is less than a thickness of the slice of the volumetric image defined by the first and second boundary surfaces.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one intermediate thin section conforms to a contour of the first and/or second boundary surface.

15. The system of claim 13:

wherein the at least one intermediate section comprises a plurality of intermediate sections;

wherein a first intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is adjacent to the first boundary surface and wherein the image processing module is configured to derive the first intermediate section from data that is axially conformal with the first boundary surface; and

wherein a second intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is adjacent to the second boundary surface and wherein the image processing module is further configured to derive the second intermediate section from data that is axially conformal with the second boundary surface.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein a third intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is positioned between the first and second intermediate sections and wherein the image processing module is configured to derive the third intermediate section from data between the first and second intermediate sections.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the third intermediate section is not conformal to the first or the second intermediate section and has an intermediate shape that logically transitions between the first and second intermediate sections.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the slice of the volumetric image comprises an en face projection derived from an entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the image processing module is configured to derive the en face projection from pixels that form the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one intermediate section comprises an en face projection derived from a fraction of the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the image processing module is configured to derive the en face projection from a fraction of the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces from a subset of the pixels that form the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

22. The system of claim 15, where the image acquisition system comprises an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the OCT system comprises a Fourier domain OCT (FDOCT) system.

24. A computer program product for acquiring an image, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code to derive a first boundary surface from a volumetric image;

computer readable program code configured to derive a second boundary surface, different and spaced apart from the first boundary surface, of the volumetric image, the first and second boundary surfaces defining a slice of the volumetric image therebetween; and

computer readable program code configured to derive at least one intermediate thin section between the first and second boundary surfaces, the thin section having a thickness that is less than a thickness of the slice of the volumetric image defined by the first and second boundary surfaces.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the at least one intermediate thin section conforms to a contour of the first and/or second boundary surface.

26. The computer program product of claim 24:

wherein the at least one intermediate section comprises a plurality of intermediate sections;

wherein a first intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is adjacent to the first boundary surface and is derived from data that is axially conformal with the first boundary surface; and

wherein a second intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is adjacent to the second boundary surface and is derived from data that is axially conformal with the second boundary surface.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein a third intermediate section of the plurality of the intermediate sections is positioned between the first and second intermediate sections and derived from data between the first and second intermediate sections.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the third intermediate section is not conformal to the first or the second intermediate section and has an intermediate shape that logically transitions between the first and second intermediate sections.

29. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the slice of the volumetric image comprises an en face projection derived from an entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the en face projection is derived from pixels that form the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

31. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the at least one intermediate section comprises an en face projection derived from a fraction of the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the en face projection derived from a fraction of the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces is derived from a subset of the pixels that form the entire region between the first and second boundary surfaces.

33. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the volumetric image is acquired using optical coherence tomography (OCT).

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the volumetric image is acquired using Fourier domain OCT (FDOCT).