Systems with workstations and circuits for generating images of global injury

• US 9,123,099 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2014
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Original Assignee: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Inventors: Hundley, William Gregory, Hamilton, Craig A., D'Agostino, Ralph B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fitzpatrick, Atiba O
• Application Number:
  US14/153,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20140126798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 596 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0044 for the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/466 adapted to display 3D data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/504 for diagnosis of blood vessels, e.g. by angiography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/506 for diagnosis of nerves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/283 Intercom or optical viewing arrangements, structurally associated with NMR apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/546 Interface between the MR system and the user, e.g. for controlling the operation of the MR system or for the design of pulse sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10088 Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20104 Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/921 Diet management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/922 including image analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/923 by comparison of patient data to other data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/924 using artificial intelligence

Abstract

Physician interactive workstations with global voxel distribution visualization may also include one or more of a 3-D color scale image of a population of voxel in target regions, organs or systems. The workstation may be configured to evaluate intensity or other measures of voxels of patient images associated with tissue for early detection of a global injury.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a circuit for generating and comparing 3-D images of cardiac tissue using x, y, z coordinates of voxels obtained from cardiac Magnetic Resonance (cMR) images of a patient and an associated measure of one or more voxel characteristic of a respective voxel and determining cell injury that is not visually detectable at a normal resolution of the cMR image slices; and

a workstation with a display in communication with or including the circuit for presenting the generated images.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is configured to generate the 3-D image to illustrate a global injury, wherein the global injury is a change in tissue composition and/or function that is not visually detectable in the patient cMR images and/or that is in a substantially randomly distributed pattern in the target tissue.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more voxel characteristic comprises intensity, and wherein the 3-D image is presented in color-scale.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the circuit is configured to generate the 3-D image using autocorrelation to determine whether voxel locations of like measures of the one or more voxel characteristics are substantially randomly distributed pattern which indicates the patient has a global cardiac injury.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is configured to generate the 3-D image to illustrate whether the patient has a global cardiac injury that is associated with viral cardiomyopathy, alchoholic cardiomyopathy, postpartum cardiomyopathy, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, edema or fibrosis.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more voxel characteristic comprises at least one of intensity, color, saturation or other characteristic of respective voxels.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more voxel characteristic includes or is a relative characteristic.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more voxel characteristic includes a histogram.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more voxel characteristic includes or is a shape of a histogram.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the 3-D image of cardiac tissue is generated using a plurality of show axis cMRI images slices that cover a left ventricle.

2. A system, comprising:

a circuit for generating a 3-D image of cadiac tissue using x, y, z coordinates of voxels obtained from cardiac Magnetic Resonance (cMR) images of a patient and an associated measure of one or more voxel characteristics of a respective voxel; and

a workstation with a display in communication with or including the circuit for presenting the generated image,

wherein the circuit is configured to electronically distinguish cardiac injury associated with myocardial infarct from cardiac injury associated with cardiotoxicity.

5. A system, comprising:

a circuit for generating a 3-D image of cardiac tissue using x, y, z coordinates of voxels obtained from cardiac Magnetic Resonance (cMR) images of a patient and an associated measure of one or more voxel characteristics of a respective voxel; and

a workstation with a display in communication with or including the circuit for presenting the generated image,

wherein the circuit is configured to generate the 3-D image to illustrate a global injury, wherein the global injury is a change in tissue composition and/or function that is not visually detectable in the patient cMR images or that is in a substantially randomly distributed pattern in the target tissue, and

wherein the circuit is configured to generate the 3-D image to illustrate a cardiotoxicity-induced global cardiac injury.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the cardiotoxicity-induced global injury is based on a chemotoxicity-induced injury.

14. A system, comprising:

a circuit for comparing MRI images of cardiac tissue using x, y, z coordinates of voxels obtained from first and second sets of a plurality of cardiac Magnetic Resonance (cMR) image slices of a patient obtained at different points in time and an associated measure of one or more defined voxel characteristic of a respective voxel, and determining cell injury that is not visually detectable at a normal resolution of the cMR image slices; and

a workstation with a display in communication with or including the circuit for presenting the images.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the circuit is configured to electronically distinguish cardiac injury associated with myocardial infarct from cardiac injury associated with cardiotoxicity.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the cardiac injury is associated with cardiotoxicity when injured cells indentified by the one or more defined voxel characteristic is in a distributed or diffuse pattern.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more defined voxel characteristic is intensity, and wherein the circuit is configured to apply and autocorrelation analysis to determine a pattern of high intensity voxels to determine whether similar measures of the one or more defined voxel characteristics is (i) clustered or (ii) randomly disturbed or diffuse, and wherein if (ii), the cell injury is a global cardiac injury.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first and second sets of the cMR image slices are delayed enhancement (DE) image slices, and wherein cardiomyothapy secondary to chemotherapy induced cardiotoxicity is associated with a change in an uptake pattern and/or signal intensities in the DE images slices between the first and second sets of the cMR images slices.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein cardiomyopathy secondary to chemotherapy induced cardiotoxicity is identified when the contrast pattern is diffuse and/or randomly distributed throughout a left ventricle in the second set of cMR image slices.