Methods and software for improving thresholding of coronary calcium scoring
First Claim
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1. A method for improving coronary calcium scoring of an image scan comprising a plurality of slice images, the method comprising:
- applying an automatic search algorithm to at least one slice image to calculate an individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image;
applying the individualized signal threshold to the at least one slice image to identify calcium therein; and
selecting a region of interest in the at least one slice image in one or more areas that cannot have calcium, wherein the automatic search algorithm is applied to the region of interest to calculate the individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image,wherein applying the automatic search algorithm comprises;
selecting a lesion criteria, the lesion criteria comprising an acceptable number N of false positives that can be located in the region of interest;
applying a first signal threshold HU1 to the region of interest to locate false positives that have signal higher than the first signal threshold HU1;
counting the number of false positives located in the region of interest with the first signal threshold HU1;
comparing N with the number of false positives located in the region of interest with the first signal threshold HU1; and
adjusting the first signal threshold HU1 until the number of false positives in the region of interest is less than or equal to N, wherein the individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image is set substantially close to an adjusted signal threshold HU in which the number of false positives is less than or equal to N.
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Abstract
The present invention provides methods and software for improving thresholding of coronary calcium scoring. In exemplary embodiments, the present invention applies an automatic search algorithm to slice images of an image scan to generate an individualized signal threshold for each particular patient. In other embodiments, an individualized signal threshold is generated for each slice image of the image scan.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method for improving coronary calcium scoring of an image scan comprising a plurality of slice images, the method comprising:
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applying an automatic search algorithm to at least one slice image to calculate an individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image; applying the individualized signal threshold to the at least one slice image to identify calcium therein; and selecting a region of interest in the at least one slice image in one or more areas that cannot have calcium, wherein the automatic search algorithm is applied to the region of interest to calculate the individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image, wherein applying the automatic search algorithm comprises; selecting a lesion criteria, the lesion criteria comprising an acceptable number N of false positives that can be located in the region of interest; applying a first signal threshold HU1 to the region of interest to locate false positives that have signal higher than the first signal threshold HU1; counting the number of false positives located in the region of interest with the first signal threshold HU1; comparing N with the number of false positives located in the region of interest with the first signal threshold HU1; and adjusting the first signal threshold HU1 until the number of false positives in the region of interest is less than or equal to N, wherein the individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image is set substantially close to an adjusted signal threshold HU in which the number of false positives is less than or equal to N. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of generating an individualized signal threshold for each slice image of an image scan, the method comprising:
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selecting at least one region of interest in each of the plurality of slice images; generating a signal threshold for each of the plurality of slice images by applying an automatic search algorithm to the selected region of interest in each of the slice images comprising steps of; applying a first signal threshold HU1 to the first region of interest;
counting the number of false positives located in the region of interest that are located with the first signal threshold HU1;
comparing the number of counted false positives with the value of N; and
performing at least one of lowering or raising the first signal threshold HU1 until a signal threshold is found that generates N false positives or lower, wherein the individualized signal threshold for the slice image is et substantially closes to an adjusted signal threshold in with N false positives are found; andselecting lesion criteria, wherein the lesion criteria comprises a minimum area of the lesion, a minimum connectedness of the lesion, and a number N of acceptable false positives in the region of interest, wherein the signal threshold is generated based on the lesion criteria. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of using an operator-defined lesion criteria to generate an individualized signal threshold for individual slice images of an image scan, the method comprising:
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selecting the lesion criteria for locating false positives in a region of interest in each slice image, wherein the lesion criteria includes an operator-provided acceptable number of false positives, represented by N; and computer processing the slice image according to the lesion criteria to generate the individualized signal threshold for each slice images, wherein the region of interest is examined with a first threshold and a number of false positives that meet the criteria of calcium lesions is counted until that number exceeds N, wherein computer processing comprises; repetitively raising the first threshold by an incremental step S until the number of false positives that meet the criteria of calcium lesions counted no longer exceeds N; repetitively lowering the first threshold by an incremental step size s, which is smaller than S, until the number of false positives that meet the criteria of calcium lesions exceeds N; and repetitively raising the first threshold by a step z until the number of false positives counted no longer exceeds N, wherein the signal threshold for the slice image is set substantially close to the value of the signal threshold value where the criteria of the calcium lesion counted no longer exceeds the value N. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A method of generating a signal threshold for each slice image of an image scan, the method comprising:
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selecting a slice image from among a plurality of slice images comprising the image scan; selecting at least one region of interest in the selected slice image; generating a signal threshold for the selected slice image by applying an automatic search algorithm to the selected region of interest comprising steps of; applying a first signal threshold HU1 to the first region of interest;
counting the number of false positives located in the region of interest that are located with the first signal threshold HU1;
comparing the number of counted false positives with the value of N; and
performing at least one of lowering or raising the first signal threshold HU1 until a signal threshold is found that generates N false positives or lower, wherein the individualized signal threshold for the slice image is et substantially closes to an adjusted signal threshold in with N false positives are found; andselecting lesion criteria, wherein the lesion criteria comprises a minimum area of the lesion, a minimum connectedness of the lesion, and a number N of acceptable false positives in the region of interest, wherein the signal threshold is generated based on the lesion criteria; and applying the signal threshold to the plurality of slice images to identify calcium in the slice images. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58)
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Specification