System for assistance of parameter determination and diagnosis in MRI dynamic uptake studies
First Claim
1. A method of angiographic imaging comprising:
- disposing a region of interest of a subject in an examination region;
entering physical parameters of the subject into a parameter database;
accessing the parameter database to determine diagnostic imaging triggering information for the from a projected contrast arrival window subject;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for an arrival of the contrast agent in a region of interest;
initiating an angiographic imaging scan in response to detecting the arrival of the contrast agent and the determined triggering information; and
, updating the parameter database.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A parameter compilation memory (62, 114) stores patient physiological information and contrast agent arrival or uptake times (tD, tA, tV) from past patients. A triggering or synchronizing window processor (64, 112) sets a triggering window, i.e. estimates the arrival time, based on the past patient information. A subject (16) disposed within an imaging region (12, 90) is injected with a contrast agent (66). Arrival of the contrast agent in the imaging region is detected (72, 110) with a real time tracking method. Diagnostic imaging is commenced on the first to occur of the detection of contrast agent arrival within the window and the end of the triggering window. The uptake times for the subject (16) are compared to those stored in the memory (62, 114) and analyzed to propose a diagnosis.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of angiographic imaging comprising:
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disposing a region of interest of a subject in an examination region;
entering physical parameters of the subject into a parameter database;
accessing the parameter database to determine diagnostic imaging triggering information for the from a projected contrast arrival window subject;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for an arrival of the contrast agent in a region of interest;
initiating an angiographic imaging scan in response to detecting the arrival of the contrast agent and the determined triggering information; and
, updating the parameter database.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
an age of the subject;
a sex of the subject;
a weight of the subject; and
,vascular abnormalities of the subject.
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3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring for the arrival of the contrast agent includes at least one of:
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fluoroscopic image tracking;
k-space signal tracking;
repetitive sampling of select central k-space values; and
,repetitive sampling of portions of collected data sets.
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4. The method as set forth in claim 1, further including:
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generating a pilot image sensitive to blood flow velocities in the region of interest of the subject;
diagnosing occlusions of blood vessels in the region of interest.
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5. A method of angiographic imaging comprising:
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disposing a region of interest of a subject in an examination region;
entering physical parameters of the subject into a prior subject database which correlates the physical parameters to normal contrast agent arrival times of prior subjects to determine a normal contrast agent arrival time window for the subject;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for an arrival of the contrast agent in a region of interest;
initiating an angiographic imaging scan in response to detecting the arrival of the contrast agent within the determined contrast agent arrival time window;
analyzing the angiographic images to determine refined physical parameters of the subject for updating the parameter database; and
,updating the prior subject database with the refined physical parameter and a time at which the contrast agent was monitored as arriving in the region of interest.
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6. A method of angiographic imaging including:
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determining a temporal triggering window within which window the initiating of an angiographic imaging scan is permitted by entering physical parameters of a present subject into a parameter database and retrieving a triggering window based on contrast agent arrival times at a region of interest information of past subjects with similar physical parameters;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for the arrival of the contrast agent at the region of interest of the subject;
initiating a diagnostic scan based on the arrival of the contrast agent and the determined temporal triggering window; and
,updating the parameter database with the monitored contrast agent arrival time and the entered physical parameters. - View Dependent Claims (7)
in the absence of detecting the arrival of the contrast agent in the region of interest, initiating the imaging scan at the end of the triggering window.
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8. A method of angiographic imaging comprising:
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disposing a region of interest of a subject in an examination region;
conducting a collateral angiography scan to detect physiological conditions that affect a projected arrival time of the contrast agent;
entering the detected physiological conditions and other physical parameters into a parameter database and retrieving a corresponding temporal triggering window in which the contrast agent is expected to arrive in the region of interest;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for an arrival of the contrast agent in a region of interest;
initiating an angiographic imaging scan in response to detecting the arrival of the contrast agent within the retrieved temporal triggering window; and
,updating the parameter database.
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9. A method of angiographic imaging comprising:
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disposing a region of interest of a subject in an examination region;
entering physical parameters of the subject into a parameter database and deriving diagnostic imaging triggering information for the subject;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for an arrival of the contrast agent in a region of interest and determining values of a contrast agent arrival time tD, an arterial phase contrast agent time tA and a venous phase contrast agent time tV of the subject;
comparing the determined arrival times tD tA and tV against values stored in the parameter database;
initiating an angiographic imaging scan in response to detecting the arrival of the contrast agent and the determined triggering information; and
,making a proposed diagnosis of the subject based on the determined arrival times tD, tA and tV of the subject and the stored values from the parameter database.
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10. A method of angiographic imaging comprising:
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disposing a region of interest of a subject in an examination region;
entering physical parameters of the subject into a parameter database;
accessing the parameter database to determine diagnostic imaging triggering information for the from a projected contrast arrival window subject;
performing a pilot imaging scan sensitive to blood flow velocities in the region of interest of the subject;
injecting a contrast agent into the subject;
monitoring for an arrival of the contrast agent in a region of interest;
initiating a dynamic uptake angiographic imaging scan in response to detecting the arrival of the contrast agent and the determined triggering information; and
,diagnosing occlusions of blood vessels in the region of interest from the dynamic uptake magnetic resonance angiography imaging scan and the pilot imaging scan downstream of the injected contrast agent; and
,updating the parameter database with monitored contrast agent and diagnosed occlusion information.
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11. A method of diagnosing vascular anomalies comprising:
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injecting a subject with a contrast agent;
accessing a database which correlates physical parameters and contrast agent arrival times of past subjects to retrieve a projected contrast agent arrival window within which angiographic imaging of the subject is permitted;
within the retrieved contrast arrival window, generating angiographic images of a region of interest of the subject;
measuring a contrast agent arrival time tD in the region of interest;
measuring an arterial phase time tA in which the contrast agent enhances arterial blood flow;
measuring a venous phase time tV in which the contrast agent enhances venous blood flow;
comparing the measured times tD, tA, and tV to a database containing values of tD, tA, and tV of a multiplicity of patients.
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12. A method of diagnosing vascular anomalies comprising:
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injecting a subject with a contrast agent;
generating angiographic images of a region of interest of the subject;
measuring a contrast agent arrival time tD in the region of interest;
measuring an arterial phase time tA in which the contrast agent enhances arterial blood flow;
measuring a venous phase time tV in which the contrast agent enhances venous blood flow;
comparing the measured times tD, tA, and tV to a database that includes patient physiological information and diagnoses, including values of tD, tA, and tV of a multiplicity of patients;
displaying the diagnoses from the database of patients with similar physiological information and values of tD, tA, and tV.
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13. A diagnostic imaging apparatus comprising:
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a parameter compilation memory in which contrast agent uptake times are stored from a plurality of prior contrast agent enhanced angiography imaging scans of other subjects;
a contrast agent detection circuit which verifies a successful detection of the contrast agent in a current subject and loads the contrast agent uptake times into the parameter compilation memory;
a reconstruction processor which reconstructs received data signals into an image representation of the current subject. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
a means for generating contrast agent enhanced diagnostic images;
a means for determining the contrast agent uptake times of current subjects;
a means for comparing the current subject uptake times with the uptake times of the other subjects stored in the parameter compilation memory and retrieving a proposed diagnosis.
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16. A diagnostic imaging apparatus comprising:
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a parameter compilation memory in which contrast agent uptake times and physical condition correlations are stored from a plurality of prior contrast agent enhanced angiography imaging scans of other subjects;
a contrast agent detection circuit which verifies an actual detection of the contrast agent at an uptake time tD of an imaged patient;
a diagnostic imaging device which collects image data of the imaged patient in a temporal window that encompasses the actual detection of the contrast agent;
a reconstruction processor which reconstructs the collected image data into image representations of the imaged patient;
an image analyzer that calculates an arterial arrival time tA and a venous arrival time tV from the reconstructed image representation; and
,a means for loading the actual detection time tD, the arterial arrival time tA, the venous arrival time tV, and correlated physical conditions of the imaged patient into the parameter compilation memory.
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17. A diagnostic imaging apparatus that generates contrast agent enhanced angiographic images, the apparatus including:
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a means for generating contrast agent enhanced diagnostic images;
a parameter memory that holds contrast agent related parameters of past diagnostic images of a plurality of patients and corresponding diagnoses;
a means for predicting contrast agent related parameters of a present patient from the contrast agent related parameters;
a means for comparing the present patient parameters with the parameters from the past patient diagnostic images;
a means for analyzing the past patient parameters and the present patient parameters to offer diagnosing assistance.
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18. An angiographic imaging apparatus comprising:
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a means for generating contrast agent enhanced diagnostic images of a region of interest of a patient disposed in an examination region;
a means for monitoring and timing arrival of a bolus of injected contrast agent in the examination region;
a memory means for storing (1) contrast agent arrival timing for a multiplicity of prior patients and (2) prior patient physiological characteristics;
a means for determining a projected contrast agent arrival window from the stored contrast agent arrival times of patients with similar physiological characteristics and at least one of;
(1) blocking the image generating means from generating an image outside of the contrast agent arrival window and (2) causing the image generating means to initiate generating a diagnostic image at the end of the projected contrast agent arrival window.
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Specification