Methods and apparatus for displaying diagnostic data

• US 20040207625A1
• Filed: 04/18/2003
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Luma Imaging Corp. (SpectraScience, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MediSpectra, Inc. (SpectraScience, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jiang, Chunsheng, Griffin, Christopher E., Flewelling, Ross F., Abele, Charles C., Schomacker, Kevin T., Schott, Jean-Pierre
• Granted Patent: US 7,136,518 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/274 Calibration, base line adjustment, drift correction
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/31 Investigating relative effect of material at wavelengths characteristic of specific elements or molecules, e.g. atomic absorption spectrometry G01N21/72 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10068 Endoscopic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30024 Cell structures in vitro; Tissue sections in vitro
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/223 using block-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/698 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

The invention provides methods for displaying diagnostic results obtained from a tissue sample. In general, the invention assigns tissue-class probability values to discrete regions of a patient sample, and creates an overlay for displaying the results. The overlay facilitates display of the tissue class probabilities in a way that reflects the diagnostic relevance of the data. For example, methods of the invention comprise applying filtering and color-blending techniques in order to facilitate display of diagnostic results.

Claims

1. A method of displaying diagnostic data, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a reference image of a tissue sample;

(b) providing a tissue-class probability corresponding to each member of a plurality of regions of said tissue sample;

(c) creating an overlay comprising colors as a proxy for said tissue-class probabilities; and

(d) displaying said reference image with said overlay.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein tissue-class probability is a probability that a region comprises tissue of a predetermined type, wherein said type is selected from the group consisting of CIN 1, CIN 2, CIN 3, CIN 2/3, metaplasia, NED, and cancer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating step comprises assigning grayscale luminance values as said proxy for said tissue-class probabilities.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating step comprises assigning RGB color values as said proxy for said tissue-class probabilities.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating step comprises assigning grayscale luminance values to said tissue-class probabilities and converting said luminance values to RGB color values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said colors are blended to provide diagnostically relevant information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating step comprises assigning grayscale luminance values to said tissue-class probabilities, spatially filtering said grayscale luminance values, and converting said filtered grayscale luminance values to RGB color values.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating step comprises spatially filtering values of said tissue-class probabilities, assigning grayscale luminance values to said filtered probability values, and converting said grayscale luminance values to RGB color values.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said colors is yellow.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said colors is blue.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said colors comprise a continuum from yellow to blue.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said continuum varies from an average tissue color to a first reference color.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said overlay identifies at least one indeterminate region of said tissue sample.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said overlay identifies an indeterminate region without obscuring a corresponding portion of said reference image.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said indeterminate region is identified using a crosshatch pattern or a trellis pattern.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said overlay identifies at least one necrotic region of said tissue sample.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said overlay identifies a necrotic region without obscuring a corresponding portion of said reference image.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said necrotic region is identified using a crosshatch pattern or a trellis pattern.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying step is performed in real time during a patient examination.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying step is performed within about an hour of a patient examination.

21. A method of displaying diagnostic data, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a reference image of a tissue sample;

(b) providing a tissue-class probability corresponding to each member of a plurality of regions of said tissue sample;

(c) creating an overlay comprising colors as a proxy for said tissue-class probabilities, wherein said colors are blended to provide diagnostically relevant information; and

(d) displaying said reference image with said overlay.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said creating step comprises assigning grayscale luminance values to said tissue-class probabilities, spatially filtering said grayscale luminance values, and converting said filtered grayscale luminance values to RGB color values.

23. A method of creating an overlay for displaying diagnostic data, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a tissue-class probability corresponding to each member of a plurality of regions of a tissue sample; and

(b) creating an overlay comprising colors as a proxy for said tissue-class probabilities, wherein said colors are blended to provide diagnostically relevant information.