Non-invasive imaging for determination of global tissue characteristics
First Claim
1. A method of evaluating a potential of a global injury of tissue of a patient, comprising:
- electronically registering a region of interest in a first image with a corresponding region of interest in a second image obtained subsequent to the first image;
electronically determining a global intensity characteristic of the region of interest based on image data from the first and second images, wherein the determining the global intensity characteristic comprises evaluating at least one of skew, kurtosis, or standard deviation of at least one property of pixels/voxels of the region of interest and/or at least one of a shape or distribution of at least one pixel/voxel intensity histogram associated with the region of interest;
electronically applying an autocorrelation statistic (I) to determine a relationship between a pattern of pixel parameters within a three dimensional tissue volume of a ROI (region of interest) to evaluate whether the pattern is clustered or randomly distributed or diffuse; and
electronically displaying to a user a likelihood of at least one of an actual or a potential for a global injury of tissue in the region of interest based on the determined global intensity characteristic, wherein the global injury is due to a change in tissue composition and/or function that is in a scattered, diffuse and/or randomly distributed pattern in the region of interest.
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Abstract
Evaluating tissue characteristics including identification of injured tissue or alteration of the ratios of native tissue components such as shifting the amounts of normal myocytes and fibrotic tissue in the heart, identifying increases in the amount of extracellular components or fluid (like edema or extracellular matrix proteins), or detecting infiltration of tumor cells or mediators of inflammation into the tissue of interest in a patient, such as a human being, is provided by obtaining a first image of tissue including a region of interest from a first acquisition, and obtaining a second image of the tissue including the region of interest during a second, subsequent acquisition. The subsequent acquisition may be obtained after a period of time to determine if injury has occurred during that period of time. Such a comparison may include comparison of mean, average characteristics, histogram shape, such as skew and kurtosis, or distribution of intensities within the histogram.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of evaluating a potential of a global injury of tissue of a patient, comprising:
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electronically registering a region of interest in a first image with a corresponding region of interest in a second image obtained subsequent to the first image; electronically determining a global intensity characteristic of the region of interest based on image data from the first and second images, wherein the determining the global intensity characteristic comprises evaluating at least one of skew, kurtosis, or standard deviation of at least one property of pixels/voxels of the region of interest and/or at least one of a shape or distribution of at least one pixel/voxel intensity histogram associated with the region of interest; electronically applying an autocorrelation statistic (I) to determine a relationship between a pattern of pixel parameters within a three dimensional tissue volume of a ROI (region of interest) to evaluate whether the pattern is clustered or randomly distributed or diffuse; and electronically displaying to a user a likelihood of at least one of an actual or a potential for a global injury of tissue in the region of interest based on the determined global intensity characteristic, wherein the global injury is due to a change in tissue composition and/or function that is in a scattered, diffuse and/or randomly distributed pattern in the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of evaluating a potential of a global cardiac injury of tissue of a patient, comprising:
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electronically evaluating intensity and associated x, y, z coordinates of pixels/voxels in a plurality of cardiac MR (Magnetic Resonance) image slices of a three dimensional tissue volume of a left ventricle of the patient of a region of interest in a first image and a corresponding region of interest in a second image obtained after the first image; electronically applying an autocorrelation statistic (I) to determine a relationship between a pattern of pixel/voxel intensity within each image slice of the three dimensional tissue volume of the left ventricle to evaluate whether the pattern is clustered or distributed; electronically determining if there is a scattered or distributed pattern or a clustered pattern of high intensity pixels/voxels in the region of interest using the autocorrelation statistic; and outputting to a display associated with a user a prediction or evaluation of global injury to tissue in the region of interest based on the determined pattern of high intensity data, wherein the global injury is associated with a diffuse, scattered or distributed pattern of high intensity pixels/voxels rather than a clustered pattern. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A system for predicting, evaluating and/or detecting global injury in a patient, comprising:
at least one processor configured to (i) identify intensity and x, y, z coordinates of each voxel in 3-dimensional space to determine a global intensity characteristic of a region of interest based on data from first and second MR (Magnetic Resonance) images, wherein the global intensity characteristic comprises evaluating at least one of skew, kurtosis, or standard deviation of at least the intensity of pixels/voxels in the region of interest and/or at least one of a shape or distribution of at least one pixel/voxel intensity histogram associated with the region of interest and (ii) apply an autocorrelation measure/statistic (I) to determine a relationship between a pattern of high intensity pixels within each image slice to determine if there is pattern clustering within a ROI (region of interest) or a random or diffuse pattern. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A system of evaluating an actual or potential of a global injury of tissue of a patient, comprising:
- a circuit with at least one processor configured to;
(i) compare image data derived from a region of interest in a first image of tissue with image data derived from a corresponding region of interest in a second image of tissue obtained after the first image and identify image intensity of each voxel and coordinates in three dimensional space;
(ii) determine if there is a distributed or scattered pattern of high intensity voxels and/or pixels in the region of interest by applying an autocorrelation statistic (I) to determine a relationship between a pattern of high intensity pixels within each slice, to evaluate whether the pattern is clustered or randomly distributed or diffuse; and
(iii) output to a display a prediction or evaluation of a global injury to tissue in the region of interest to a user based on the determined pattern of high intensity data, wherein the global injury is due to a change in tissue composition and/or function that is in a random or diffuse distributed pattern and not a clustered pattern and/or in a pattern that is not visually detectable at a resolution of the images. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
- a circuit with at least one processor configured to;
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21. A system of non-invasively evaluating a patient for injury or abnormality, comprising:
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a circuit that comprises at least one processor configured to a ply an to determine if there is a pattern of a defined at least one voxel characteristic within a three dimensional (3-D) tissue volume of a ROI (region of interest) and analyze the at least one characteristic of voxels of MRI image slices to detect a global injury, global abnormal tissue, or global abnormal accumulation of materials not found in normal ratios within native tissue, even when the characteristic of those voxels is in a random pattern or in a pattern that is not visually detectable at a resolution of the MRI image slices, wherein the global injury, global abnormal tissue or global accumulation is identified when there is a determined pattern that is scattered, diffuse and/or randomly distributed in the 3-D volume of the region of interest; and a display in communication with the circuit that provides an output of the analysis. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification