Method and system for determining a period of interest using multiple inputs

• US 7,367,953 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2003
• Issued: 05/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bulkes, Cherik, Avinash, Gopal B., Salla, Prathyusha K.
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US10/723,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20050113702A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,623 Days
• Field of Search: 600/508, 600/513, 600/528, 607/18, 607/20
• US Class Current: 600/508
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0037 Performing a preliminary scan, e.g. a prescan for identifying a region of interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0535 Impedance plethysmography for measuring blood flow A61B5/0295
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1107 Measuring contraction of parts of the body, e.g. organ, muscle apparatus for measuring work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/341 Vectorcardiography [VCG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7289 Retrospective gating, i.e. associating measured signals or images with a physiological event after the actual measurement or image acquisition, e.g. by simultaneously recording an additional physiological signal during the measurement or image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7292 Prospective gating, i.e. predicting the occurrence of a physiological event for use as a synchronisation signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/03 Computed tomography [CT] echo-tomography A61B8/14
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5217 extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/527 using data from a motion artifact sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

One or more techniques are provided for identifying a period of minimal motion for an organ of interest, such as the heart or lungs. Motion data is acquired for the organ of interest and for one or more proximate organs using sensor-based and/or image-based techniques. The sensor-based techniques may include electrical and non-electrical techniques. The image-based techniques may include both pre-acquisition and acquisition image data. The motion data for the organ of interest and proximate organs may be used to generate a set of multi-input motion data that may be processed to identify desired periods, such as periods of minimal motion, within the overall motion of the organ of interest.

Claims

1. A method for identifying one or more periods of minimal motion, comprising the steps of:

acquiring at least one set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, at least one set of non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, and one or more sets of data representative of respiratory organ motion;

generating a set of multi-input motion data comprising the set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, the set non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, and the one or more sets of motion data representative of respiratory organ motion; and

extracting one or more periods of minimal motion for one of the heart and the respiratory organ from the set of multi-input motion data.

2. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more sets of data representative of respiratory motion comprise at least one of a set of electrical data representative of respiratory motion and a set of non-electrical data representative of respiratory motion.

3. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of multi-input motion data further comprises one or more sets of motion data for one or more proximate organs.

4. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring comprises measuring a set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion using electrical sensors.

5. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring comprises measuring a set of non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion using mechanical sensors.

6. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring comprises measuring a set of electrical data representative of respiratory motion using electrical sensors.

7. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring comprises measuring a set of non-electrical data representative of respiratory motion using mechanical sensors.

8. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring comprises measuring one of cardiac motion and respiratory motion from one or more images.

9. The method, as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more images are derived from one of pre-acquisition image data, unreconstructed acquisition image data, and reconstructed acquisition image data.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a set of motion compensation factors from the one or more periods of minimal motion.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of determining two or more gating points from the one or more periods of minimal motion.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of validating the one or more periods of minimal motion.

13. A computer program, provided on one or more computer readable media, for identifying one or more periods of minimal motion, comprising:

a routine for acquiring at least one set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, at least one set of non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, and one or more sets of motion data representative of respiratory organ motion;

a routine for generating a set of multi-input motion data comprising the set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, the set non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, and the one or more sets of data representative of respiratory organ motion; and

a routine for extracting one or more periods of minimal motion for one of the heart and the respiratory organ from the set of multi-input motion data.

14. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the one or more sets of data representative of respiratory motion comprise at least one of a set of electrical data representative of respiratory motion and a set of non-electrical data representative of respiratory motion.

15. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the routine for generating the set of multi-input motion data includes one or more sets of motion data for one or more proximate organs in the set of multi-input motion data.

16. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the routine for acquiring measures a set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion using electrical sensors.

17. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the routine for acquiring measures a set of non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion using mechanical sensors.

18. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the routine for acquiring measures a set of electrical data representative of respiratory motion using electrical sensors.

19. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the routine for acquiring measures a set of non-electrical data representative of respiratory motion using mechanical sensors.

20. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, wherein the routine for acquiring measures one of cardiac motion and respiratory motion from one or more images.

21. The computer program, as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more images are derived from one of pre-acquisition image data, unreconstructed acquisition image data, and reconstructed acquisition image data.

22. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, comprising a routine for determining a set of motion compensation factors from the one or more periods of minimal motion.

23. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, comprising a routine for determining two or more gating points from the one or more periods of minimal motion.

24. The computer program, as recited in claim 13, comprising a routine for validating the one or more periods of minimal motion.

25. An imaging system, comprising:

means for acquiring at least one set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, at least one set of non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, and one or more sets of data representative of respiratory organ motion;

means for generating a set of multi-input motion data comprising the set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, the set non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, the one or more sets of motion data representative of respiratory organ motion; and

means for extracting one or more periods of minimal motion for one of the heart and the respiratory organ from the set of multi-input motion data.

26. An imaging system, comprising:

an imager configured to generate a plurality of signals representative of at least one of a heart and a respiratory organ;

data acquisition circuitry configured to acquire the plurality of signals;

data processing circuitry configured to receive the plurality of signals;

system control circuitry configured to operate at least one of the imager and the data acquisition circuitry;

an operator workstation configured to communicate with the system control circuitry and to receive at least the processed plurality of signals from the data processing circuitry;

one or more sensor-based motion measurement systems configured to measure electrical activity indicative of the motion of the heart;

one or more sensor-based motion measurement systems configured to measure non-electrical activity indicative of the motion of the heart; and

one or more sensor-based motion measurement systems configured to measure electrical or non-electrical activity indicative of the motion of the respiratory organ;

wherein one or more of the data processing circuitry and operator workstation are configured to extract one or more periods of minimal motion for one of the heart and the respiratory organ from a set of multi-input motion data comprising at least a set of electrical data representative of cardiac motion, at least a set of non-electrical data representative of cardiac motion, and a set of electrical or non-electrical data representative of respiratory motion acquired by the respective sensor-based motion measurement systems.

27. The imaging system as recited in claim 26, wherein a sensor-based motion measurement systems configured to measure non-electrical activity indicative of the motion of the heart and a sensor-based motion measurement systems configured to measure non-electrical activity indicative of the motion of the respiratory organ are the same.