SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MATCHING AND IMAGING TISSUE CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20130315491A1
• Filed: 03/21/2013
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Original Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Inventors: Konofagou, Elisa, Provost, Jean
• Granted Patent: US 9,514,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/209
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7289 Retrospective gating, i.e. associating measured signals or images with a physiological event after the actual measurement or image acquisition, e.g. by simultaneously recording an additional physiological signal during the measurement or image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/03 Computed tomography [CT] echo-tomography A61B8/14
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• 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 6/5205 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5288 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0883 for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0891 for diagnosis of blood vessels
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/485 involving measuring strain or elastic properties
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5207 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image reconstruction G06T11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5284 involving retrospective matching to a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8977 using special techniques for image reconstruction, e.g. FFT, geometrical transformations, spatial deconvolution, time deconvolution
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52042 determining elastic properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target diagnostic techniques involving the measurement of strain A61B8/485
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52071 Multicolour displays; using colour coding; Optimising colour or information content in displays, e.g. parametric imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/12 Classification; Matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10088 Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10132 : Ultrasound image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30024 : Cell structures in vitro; Tissue sections in vitro
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 : Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 : Biomedical image inspection

Abstract

Systems and methods for matching a characteristic of multiple sectors of a moving tissue to verify an overlap thereof are disclosed herein. In an exemplary method, tissue data for at least a first sector and a second sector of a moving tissue is acquired. A characteristic of at least a portion of the first and second sectors is estimated from the acquired tissue data, and the estimated characteristics are matched to verify whether a portion of the first sector overlaps with a portion of the second sector. Estimating can include estimating a displacement such as an axial displacement and/or lateral displacements. Estimating can further include estimating a strain, a velocity, a strain rate and/or a stiffness or equivalent.

Claims

1. A method for matching a characteristic of two or more sectors of a moving tissue to verify whether any portions thereof overlap, comprising:

acquiring tissue data for at least a first sector and a second sector of said moving tissue;

estimating a characteristic of at least a portion of said first sector and a characteristic of at least a portion of said second sector from said acquired tissue data; and

matching said estimated characteristic of said portion of said first sector with said estimated characteristic of said portion of said second sector, to verify whether said portion of said first sector overlaps with said portion of said second sector.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a time delay between said matched characteristic of said portion of said first sector and said matched characteristic of said portion of said second sector.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising forming an image of said matched characteristic of said portion of said first sector and said matched characteristic of said portion of said second sector utilizing said determined time delay.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating said characteristic further comprises estimating a displacement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating said characteristic further comprises estimating a strain.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating said characteristic further comprises estimating a velocity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating said characteristic further comprises estimating a strain rate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating said characteristic further comprises estimating a stiffness.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein said displacement comprises axial displacement.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein said displacement comprises lateral displacement.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein forming said image comprises forming a one-dimensional image of said tissue, a two-dimensional image of said tissue, a three-dimensional image of said tissue, or a four-dimensional image of said tissue.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating said characteristic further comprises using a speckle-tracking technique.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring electrical activity data from said moving tissue; and

determining a correspondence between said electrical activity and said estimated characteristic of said portion of said first sector and said estimated characteristic of said portion of said second sector.

14. A system for matching a characteristic of two or more sectors of a moving tissue to verify whether any portions thereof overlap, comprising:

a computer readable medium storing program instructions; and

a processor adapted to receive tissue data for at least a first sector and a second sector of said moving tissue,

wherein said processor is operatively connected to said computer readable medium and configured to execute said stored program instructions,

wherein said processor is further configured such that upon execution of said stored program instructions, said processor;

estimates a characteristic of at least a portion of said first sector and a characteristic of at least a portion of said second sector from said acquired tissue data, and

matches said estimated characteristic of said portion of said first sector with said estimated characteristic of said portion of said second sector, to verify whether said portion of said first sector overlaps with said portion of said second sector.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said processor is further configured to determine a time delay between said matched characteristic of said portion of said first sector and said matched characteristic of said portion of said second sector.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said processor is further configured to form an image of said matched characteristic of said portion of said first sector and said matched characteristic of said portion of said second sector utilizing said determined time delay.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising a data acquisition device for acquiring data from two or more sectors of said tissue.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said data acquisition device comprises an ultrasound device, an MRI device, or a CT device.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said data acquisition device is capable of acquiring data at a rate of up to 10000 frames per second.

20. The system of claim 14, further comprising an electrical detection device configured to detect an electrical signal propagating through said tissue.