Method, system and storage medium which includes instructions for analyzing anatomical structures

• US 7,787,671 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2005
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: New York University
• Original Assignee: New York University
• Inventors: Tsui, Wai-Hon, Mosconi, Lisa, Rusinek, Henry, De Leon, Mony J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tucker; Wes
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bitar; Nancy
• Application Number:
  US11/184,218
• Publication Number:
  US 20060025673A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,870 Days
• Field of Search: 600/410, 382/128, 382/181, 382/294, 382/293, 382/131, 128/920, 128/923, 128/925, 702/19, 378/4
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10088 Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10104 Positron emission tomography [PET]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30016 Brain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/12 Edge-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/143 involving probabilistic approaches, e.g. Markov random field [MRF] modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/97 Determining parameters from multiple pictures depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85

Abstract

A method, system and storage arrangement are provided for effectuating an evaluation and analysis of anatomical structures, and creating and/or modifying images associated therewith. In particular, at least two images associated with the anatomical structure can be normalized so as to produce normalized image. A normalized set of regions of interest can be obtained based on the normalized images. Each of the normalized set of regions of interest may be analyzed to provide analysis data. Further, the anatomical structure mask may be created and/or modified based on the analysis data. Another embodiment provides for rating and analyzing anatomical structures.

Claims

1. A method for at least one of creating or modifying an anatomical structure mask, comprising:

obtaining a first region of interest from at least one first image associated with at least one first subject;

obtaining a second region of interest from at least one second image associated with at least one second subject;

selectively analyzing each of the first and second regions of interest using an iterative procedure;

determining a percentage of an overlap region that is common to the first and second regions of interest based on a predetermined criteria;

determining a particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity for each of the first and second regions of interest; and

using a computing arrangement, at least one of creating or modifying the anatomical structure mask based on the percentage of the overlap region, and modifying the anatomical structure mask to account for the particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity;

wherein for the particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity, the sensitivity is defined as a volume of an anatomical structure correctly included in a sampling region divided by a total anatomical structure volume, and the specificity is defined as a volume of a non-anatomical structure correctly excluded from the mask divided by a total non-anatomical structure volume.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a particular set of scanned images;

generating the first and second images associated with the first and second subjects, each of the first and second images corresponding to a unique one of the particular set of scanned images.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or second images comprises an image of a brain.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the first and second regions of interest includes a hippocampus.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the first and second regions of interest includes an amygdala.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a template from each of the first and second images;

wherein the operation of obtaining each of the first and second regions of interest based on the first and second images comprises;

registering each of the first and second images to the template to create a set of registered images; and

extracting the first and second regions of interest from each of the registered images.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the anatomical structure mask comprises a mask of a particular anatomical structure.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mask of the particular anatomical structure is derived from the first and second images.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second images are magnetic resonance images.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second images are positron-emission tomography images.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a third image associated with at least one third subject;

registering the third image to a template image comprising the first and second images; and

at least one of creating or modifying the anatomical structure mask for the third image from the anatomical structure mask associated with the first and second subjects.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the template image to normalize the third image.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and second images are a first image type, and the third image is a second image type.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first image type is a magnetic resonance image, and the second image type is a positron-emission topography scan.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises establishing a probabilistic map of at least one of the first and second regions of interest.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising normalizing the first and second images associated with the first and second subjects to produce normalized images before the obtaining steps.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing each of the first and second regions of interest to provide analysis data.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is at least one of:

(1) the percentage of the overlap region exceeds a predetermined percentage;

(2) a dimension of an intersection region between the first and second regions of interest exceeds a predetermined amount;

(3) a frequency of a number of voxels within the overlap region follows a particular distribution; and

(4) a particular positive likelihood ratio.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the predetermined percentage is about 80%.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the predetermined amount is an amount relating to scanner resolution.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the predetermined amount is about 2 times a full-width at half-maximum of a scanner used to obtain an image of the first or second subject.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a bootstrapping procedure to the percentage of the overlap region.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the bootstrapping procedure is performed with replacement.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the bootstrapping procedure is followed by a Shapiro-Wilk test to test a normality of a distribution of voxel frequency at different levels for the percentage of overlap.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing a procedure to analyze variances between data associated with the percentage of the overlap region.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein a Levene'"'"'s test procedure for equal variances is utilized to identify a distribution with a smallest variance between the data.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a third region of interest from at least one third image associated with at least one third subject; and

determining the percentage of the overlap region that is common to the first, second and third regions of interest based on the predetermined criteria.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or second regions of interest is manually determined.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a third region of interest by locating corresponding points from the percentage of the overlap region to an image for at least one of the first subject, the second subject or a third subject.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising aligning the first and second images before the determining step.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second images are two-dimensional images.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second images are three-dimensional images.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein the anatomical structure is a hippocampus.

15. A system for at least one of creating or modifying an anatomical structure mask, comprising:

a processing arrangement which, when executing a software program embodied on a computer-readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions, is configured to;

obtain a first region of interest from at least one first image associated with at least one first subject;

obtain a second region of interest from at least one second image associated with at least one second subject;

selectively analyze each of the first and second regions of interest using an iterative procedure;

determine a percentage of an overlap region that is common to the first and second regions of interest based on a predetermined criteria;

determine a particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity for each of the first and second regions of interest; and

at least one of creating or modifying the anatomical structure mask based on the percentage of the overlap region, and modifying the anatomical structure mask to account for the particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity;

wherein for the particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity, the sensitivity is defined as a volume of an anatomical structure correctly included in a sampling region divided by a total anatomical structure volume, and the specificity is defined as a volume of a non-anatomical structure correctly excluded from the mask divided by a total non-anatomical structure volume.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer readable instructions which is provided for at least one of creating or modifying an anatomical structure mask, wherein, when a processing arrangement executes the instructions, the processing arrangement is configured to:

obtain a first region of interest from at least one first image associated with at least one first subject;

obtain a second region of interest from at least one second image associated with at least one second subject;

selectively analyze each of the first and second regions of interest using an iterative procedure;

determine a percentage of an overlap region that is common to the first and second regions of interest based on a predetermined criteria;

determine a particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity for each of the first and second regions of interest; and

at least one of creating or modifying the anatomical structure mask based on the percentage of the overlap region, and modifying the anatomical structure mask to account for the particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity;

wherein for the particular ratio of sensitivity to specificity, the sensitivity is defined as a volume of an anatomical structure correctly included in a sampling region divided by a total anatomical structure volume, and the specificity is defined as a volume of a non-anatomical structure correctly excluded from the mask divided by a total non-anatomical structure volume.

17. A computer system, comprising:

computer-accessible data associated with a percentage of an overlap region that is common to a first region of interest obtained from at least a first image associated with at least one first subject, and a second region of interest obtained from at least a second image associated with at least one second subject, based on a predetermined criteria,

wherein the computer-accessible data is associated with a particular ratio of sensitivity determined to specificity for the first and second regions of interest, and the sensitivity is defined as a volume of an anatomical structure correctly included in a sampling region divided by a total anatomical structure volume, and the specificity is defined as a volume of a non-anatomical structure correctly excluded from the mask divided by a total non-anatomical structure volume.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the percentage of the overlap region is derived from the first and second images by:

selectively analyzing the first and second images using an iterative procedure.

38. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the predetermined criteria is at least one of:

(1) the percentage of the overlap region exceeds a predetermined percentage;

(2) a dimension of an intersection region between the first and second regions of interest exceeds a predetermined amount;

(3) a frequency of a number of voxels within the overlap region follows a particular distribution; and

(4) a particular positive likelihood ratio.

39. The computer system of claim 38, wherein the predetermined percentage is about 80%.

40. The computer system of claim 38, wherein the predetermined amount is an amount relating to scanner resolution.

41. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the predetermined amount is about 2 times a full-width at half-maximum of a scanner used to obtain an image of the first or second subject.

42. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the anatomical structure is a hippocampus.