Method and data-processing system for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries
First Claim
1. A method for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries using image data of a heart from CT angiography, comprising:
- detecting anatomical landmarks in an image data in the region of the heart and segmenting the coronary arteries, taking into account the detected anatomical landmarks;
identifying and labeling the segmented coronary arteries based on an analysis of a spatial location of the segmented coronary arteries, the analysis including dividing a region into subregions and assigning a label to each of the subregions based on statistical assumptions relating to the spatial location of the coronary arteries, wherein segmented coronary arteries that mainly run in one of the subregions obtain the label assigned to the one of the subregions;
segmenting regions with an increased HU- or brightness value, compared to a contrast agent surroundings, in the segmented coronary arteries; and
calculating a proportion of calcium from respective segmented regions for one or more of the segmented coronary arteries, whereinat least the segmenting and calculating are carried out fully automatically by a data-processing system, andweighting factors for the individual regions are used when calculating the proportion of calcium, the weighting factors depending on both a threshold for the segmenting of a respective region and a volume of the respective region.
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Abstract
A method and a data-processing system are disclosed for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries using image data from CT angiography. In at least one embodiment of the method, anatomical landmarks are detected in the image data in the region of the heart and coronary arteries are segmented taking into account the detected landmarks. Regions with an increased HU value compared to a contrast agent surroundings are segmented in the segmented coronary arteries. A proportion of calcium respectively is calculated from the segmented regions for one or more of the segmented coronary arteries. At least the last two steps are carried out fully automatically by a data-processing system. Weighting factors for the individual regions are used when calculating the proportion of calcium, which weighting factors depend on both the threshold for segmenting the respective region and the volume of said region. The method and the data-processing system of at least one embodiment allow the dose exposure of the patient to be reduced and reduce the time expenditure of the user for determining the proportion of calcium.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries using image data of a heart from CT angiography, comprising:
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detecting anatomical landmarks in an image data in the region of the heart and segmenting the coronary arteries, taking into account the detected anatomical landmarks; identifying and labeling the segmented coronary arteries based on an analysis of a spatial location of the segmented coronary arteries, the analysis including dividing a region into subregions and assigning a label to each of the subregions based on statistical assumptions relating to the spatial location of the coronary arteries, wherein segmented coronary arteries that mainly run in one of the subregions obtain the label assigned to the one of the subregions; segmenting regions with an increased HU- or brightness value, compared to a contrast agent surroundings, in the segmented coronary arteries; and calculating a proportion of calcium from respective segmented regions for one or more of the segmented coronary arteries, wherein at least the segmenting and calculating are carried out fully automatically by a data-processing system, and weighting factors for the individual regions are used when calculating the proportion of calcium, the weighting factors depending on both a threshold for the segmenting of a respective region and a volume of the respective region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10)
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9. A data-processing system for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries using image data of a heart from CT angiography, comprising:
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a device configured to detect anatomical landmarks in the image data in a region of the heart and segmenting the coronary arteries, taking into account the detected anatomical landmarks; a data processing system configured to, identify and label the segmented coronary arteries based on an analysis of a spatial location of the segmented coronary arteries, the analysis including dividing a region into subregions and assigning a label to each of the subregions based on statistical assumptions relating to the spatial location of the coronary arteries, wherein segmented coronary arteries that mainly run in one of the subregions obtain the label assigned to the one of the subregions, segment regions with an increased HU- or brightness value, compared to a contrast agent surroundings, in the segmented coronary arteries, and calculate a proportion of calcium from respective segmented regions for one or more of the segmented coronary arteries, wherein at least the segmenting and calculating are carried out fully automatically, and weighting factors for the individual regions are used when calculating the proportion of calcium, the weighting factors depending on both a threshold for the segmenting of a respective region and a volume of the respective region.
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Specification