Blood vessel analysis apparatus, medical image diagnosis apparatus, and blood vessel analysis method

• US 9,928,593 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2015
• Issued: 03/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ooga, Junichiro, Hirohata, Kenji, Kaminaga, Shigeo, Fujisawa, Yasuko, Wakai, Satoshi, Arakita, Kazumasa, Igarashi, Takuma, Ishii, Hideaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Azarian, Seyed
• Application Number:
  US14/731,908
• Publication Number:
  US 20150356734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 382100, 382103, 382106-107, 382128-133, 382154, 382162, 382168, 382173, 382181, 382199, 382219, 382232, 382254, 382274, 382276, 382288, 382291, 382305, 382286, 703 11, 424 111, 378 4, 378 21
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0044 for the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/03 Computed tomography [CT] echo-tomography A61B8/14
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/481 involving the use of contrast agents
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/486 involving generating temporal series of image 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 6/5217 extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10076 4D tomography; Time-sequential 3D tomography
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10081 Computed x-ray tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30101 Blood vessel; Artery; Vein; Vascular
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30104 Vascular flow; Blood flow; Perfusion
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/246 using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/251 involving models
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a structuring circuitry temporarily structures a dynamical model of analysis processing based on the time-series medical image. The identification circuitry identifies a latent variable of the dynamical model so that at least one of a prediction value of a blood vessel morphology and a prediction value of a bloodstream based on the temporarily structured dynamical model is in conformity with at least one of an observation value of the blood vessel morphology and an observation value of the bloodstream measured in advance. The analysis circuitry analyzes the dynamical model to which the identified latent variable is allocated.

Claims

1. A blood vessel analysis apparatus comprising:

a storage configured to store data of a time-series medical image of a blood vessel of a subject; and

processing circuitry configured to

temporarily structure a dynamical model of analysis processing based on the time-series medical image,

identify a latent variable of the dynamical model so that at least one of a prediction value of a blood vessel morphology and a prediction value of a bloodstream based on the temporarily structured dynamical model is in conformity with at least one of an observation value of the blood vessel morphology and an observation value of the bloodstream measured in advance,

analyze the dynamical model to which the identified latent variable is allocated, and

temporarily structure a dynamical model of analysis processing of an analysis target region, based on a time-series morphology index, a time-series shape deformation index, and the time-series medical image.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry performs structure analysis, fluid analysis, or, structural fluid interaction analysis with the dynamical model to which the identified latent variable is allocated, and calculates at least one of a prediction value of the time-series dynamical index and a prediction value of the time-series bloodstream.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry identifies the latent variable of the dynamical model so that the prediction value of the blood vessel morphology and the, prediction value of the bloodstream are in conformity with the observation value of the blood vessel morphology and the observation value of the bloodstream.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to

set the analysis target region in a blood vessel region included in the time-series medical image, and set a latent variable identification region in the analysis target region, and

calculate the time-series morphology index and the time-series shape deformation index of the analysis target region by performing image processing of the time-series medical image.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry locally sets the analysis target region to a lesion region or a treatment target.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry locally sets the analysis target region to a blood vessel region where a diameter is equal to or more than 2 mm.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry excludes a pixel region of a blood vessel in a heart from the analysis target region.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the processing circuitry calculates a space distribution of a time-series dynamical index, based on a dynamical model to which the identified latent variable is allocated, and determines whether collateral exists or not based on a change mode of the time-series dynamical index in a blood vessel center line direction, and

further comprising a display configured to display a determination result given by the processing circuitry.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage storing each of a plurality of CT value ranges in association with a property of a blood vessel wall and a material model,

wherein the latent variable includes a material model, the time-series medical image is a time-series CT image generated by an X-ray computed tomography apparatus, and, the processing circuitry identifies a material model associated in the storage with a CT value of a pixel constituting a blood vessel wall region included in the medical image, and allocates the identified material model to the blood vessel wall region of the dynamical model.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the latent variable includes a boundary condition related to a blood flow inlet and a blood flow outlet, and the processing circuitry calculates an initial value of the boundary condition based on the time-series CT image generated by a CT scan for a subject injected with a contrast agent, by an X-ray computed tomography apparatus.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry sets a higher calculation density to an interest region in the dynamical model than another region.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time-series medical image is a time-series CT image generated by an X-ray computed tomography apparatus, and the X-ray computed tomography apparatus executes CT scan so that a temporal resolution of a designation section in the time-series CT image is higher than a temporal resolution of another section.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time-series medical image is a time-series CT image generated by an X-ray computed tomography apparatus when the subject is in a stress-less situation.

14. A medical image diagnosis apparatus comprising:

an imaging mechanism configured to generate data of a time-series medical image of a blood vessel of a subject; and

processing circuitry configured to

temporarily structure a dynamical model of analysis processing based on the time-series medical image,

identify a latent variable of the dynamical model so that at least one of a prediction value of a blood vessel morphology and a prediction value of a bloodstream based on the temporarily structured dynamical model is in conformity with at least one of an observation value of the blood vessel morphology and an observation value of the bloodstream measured in advance,

analyze the dynamical model to which the identified latent variable is allocated, and

temporarily structure a dynamical model of analysis processing of an analysis target region, based on a time-series morphology index, a time-series shape deformation index, and the time-series medical image.

15. A blood vessel analysis method comprising:

temporarily structuring a dynamical model of analysis processing based on a time-series medical image of a blood vessel of a subject;

identifying a latent variable of the dynamical model so that at least one of a prediction value of a blood vessel morphology and a prediction value of a bloodstream based on the temporarily structured dynamical model is in conformity with at least one of an observation value of the blood vessel morphology and an observation value of the bloodstream measured in advance; and

analysing the dynamical model to which the identified latent variable is allocated, wherein

the medical image is a CT image generated by an X-ray computed tomography apparatus, and

the X-ray computed tomography apparatus executes CT scan so that a temporal resolution of a designation section in the time-series CT image is higher than a temporal resolution of another section.

16. A blood vessel analysis apparatus comprising:

a storage configured to store data of a time-series medical image of a blood vessel of a subject captured with a CT scan;

processing circuitry configured to

calculate a dynamical index of the blood vessel in a center line direction of the blood vessel based on the time-series medical image, and

determine whether collateral exists or not, based on a change mode of a dynamical index in the center line direction, the change mode being a mode in which the dynamical index decreases at first position and turns to increase at second position which is located in distal side of the first position in the center line direction; and

the display displays a determination result given by the processing circuitry.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the processing circuitry calculates the time-series dynamical index in the center line direction, based on the time-series medical image, and determines whether collateral exists or not based on a change mode of the time-series dynamical index.