General Electric Company

Apn Health, LLC

Barry F Belanger

Thomas W Lambert

Donald Brodnick

Jasbir Sra

Mark Palma

Bruce Langenbach

Jennifer Esposito

David Ysseldyke

Guillaume Bourdeaux

David Leo McDaniel

Anne Lindsay Hall

Gary S Keyes

James A McFaul

Thomas V Meccariello

Thomas P Liu

Lawrence E Sieb

Walter L Robb

A method for automatically determining the 3D position and orientation of a radio-opaque medical object in a living body using single-plane fluoroscopy comprising: (a) capturing a stream of digitized 2D images from a single-plane fluoroscope; (b) detecting an image of the medical object in a subset of the digital 2D images; (c) applying to the digital 2D images calculations which preserve original pixel intensity values and permit statistical calculations thereon, using (i) multiple sequential determinations of a midline of the medical object image, (ii) a plurality of unfiltered raw-data cross-sectional intensity profiles perpendicular to each sequentially-determined midline, (iii) removal of outlier profiles from each plurality of profiles, and (iv) statistically combining each plurality of profiles to estimate image dimensions; (d) applying conical projection and radial elongation corrections to the image measurements; and (e) calculating the 3D position and orientation of the medical object from the corrected 2D image measurements.

Automatically determining 3D catheter location and orientation using 2D fluoroscopy only

A method for automatically determining the 3D position and orientation of a radio-opaque medical object in a living body using single-plane fluoroscopy comprising capturing a stream of digitized 2D images from a single-plane fluoroscope (), detecting the image of the medical object in a subset of the digital 2D images, applying pixel-level geometric calculations to measure the medical-object image, applying conical projection and radial elongation corrections () to the image measurements, and calculating the 3D position and orientation of the medical object from the corrected 2D image measurements.

A system and method to manage direction of an ionizing radiation toward an exposed subject is provided. The system can perform receiving a request from a customer to establish an internet connection to communicate between a remote office and the system directing the ionizing radiation toward the exposed subject; automatically communicating a status information and individual dose data associated with an event where direction of ionizing radiation that exceeds a threshold; automatically creating and communicating a report via the internet connection to the customer. The report can include an indication of the event where direction of ionizing radiation exceeds the threshold and a comparison of the individual radiation dose data and an individual status operation of system at time of the event relative to a benchmark defined by radiation dose data and status information acquired from a population of other systems.

System and method of remote reporting of radiation dose usage in image acquisition

The brightness of an X-ray video image during fluorography is maintained at a substantially constant level by a control circuit which varies the X-ray dose in relation to changes in the average brightness of the X-ray image. Selected picture elements of the image which lie within a defined region in the image and which have a brightness above a given level are used to derive the average X-ray image brightness. The brightness of the selected picture elements are summed and the number of such picture elements counted. The summation of the brightness and the picture element count are both scaled by a factor of 2.sup.n to reduce the size of the numbers of the complexity of the averaging circuitry. The scaled brightness summation is divided by the scaled picture element count and the result is stored as the average X-ray image brightness.

Automatic brightness compensation for fluorography systems

The brightness of an X-ray video image during fluorography is maintained at a substantially constant level by a control circuit which varies the X-ray dose in relation to changes in the average brightness of the X-ray image. As the X-ray system approaches the limits of its imaging capability, varying the X-ray dose alone may not yield the desired brightness level. At this point, the gain applied to the video signal is increased to improve the brightness. A linear brightness taper function is used such that, as the level of video gain required to maintain constant brightness increases, the actual video gain increases by a smaller proportional amount. This function results in the brightness of the video image decreasing somewhat as the video gain is required to provide a greater degree of brightness compensation. This reduction in brightness not only provides a visual indication to the image observer that the system is approaching the imaging limits, but also creates an illusion that noise artifacts in the image are not intensifying as the video gain increases.

Automatic brightness compensation for x-ray imaging systems

An imaging system for generating a color image on film from electronic video image data incorporates feedback control techniques to provide control of film density. The system includes variable gain amplifiers responsive to light intensity output of a film writing device for maintaining the output at a desired set level. In addition, the system includes apparatus and a method for monitoring the density of film images produced by the system and for utilizing the monitored values to modify the system transfer function in a direction to effect a change in the film density towards a desired value.

Color film writing system with closed loop control for electronic images

A system for transferring electronic image data to film which provides correlation or matching between an image as viewed on a video monitor and an image viewed on film. Apparatus is disclosed for measuring image intensity on a video monitor and converting the measured intensity to electronic signals. The image intensity on film under controlled lighting is measured and signals representative of film density provided. The signals obtained by the two measurements are compared and any difference is used to vary a film writing system in a manner to minimize the difference.

Method and apparatus for correlating video and film images produced from

A scatter radiation compensation method for use in a medical diagnosis x-ray imaging system employs the use of an attenuating material placed in an x-ray beam to attenuate a portion of the beam such that the in-line component of the beam is reduced in the attenuated area. In one embodiment, an additional image is then taken utilizing an attenuator through out the full area of the beam to provide an image indicative of in-line components of the x-ray beam. The difference in image intensity between the two images is then computed to determine the scatter component of intensity and that intensity is thereafter substracted from the overall intensity obtained in a medical diagnostic image to obtain an image with the scattering effects removed. In one embodiment, the attenuating objects are plural spaced objects located at predetermined positions in the image. In a further embodiment, the image is taken through an attenuating object covering the entire beam, the object having a plurality of holes located at spaced intervals for permitting a portion of the beam to pass through unattenuated. In either embodiment, the component of scattering is determined by comparing the relative intensity values between the images developed with an object passing a portion of the beam unattenuated and an object passing an attenuated beam.

Measurement of scatter in x-ray imaging

An imaging system for generating a image on film from video image data incorporates feedback control techniques to provide control of film density. The system includes variable gain amplifiers responsive to light intensity output of a film writing device for maintaining the output at a desired set level. In addition, the system includes apparatus and a method for monitoring the density of film images produced by the system and for utilizing the monitored values to modify the system transfer function in a direction to effect a change in the film density towards a desired value.

Film writing system with closed loop control for electronic images

In digital subtraction angiography a low X-ray energy temporal subtraction image is displayed on a video monitor. Regions in the temporal image frame that contain motion artifacts are outlined by using a cursor. The coordinates of the pixels in the defined outlined region are stored in a processor memory. The data for a related hybrid subtraction image are developed and stored. The processor then effects substitution of the hybrid subtraction image pixels, that fall within the same defined region, into the temporal subtraction image. The combined image data are transferred to a display controller memory which controls display of the combined image on a monitor. A method and means are provided for automatically determining the optimum value of the weighting coefficient applied to the high energy temporal subtraction image that results in the most complete cancellation of everything in the two images except the contrast medium filled blood vessel when the high and low energy temporal images are subtracted. A method and means are provided for altering the gain and offset of the hybrid image data in such manner as to match the hybrid image contrast and brightness with that of the temporal subtraction image.

Region-of-interest digital subtraction angiography

For hybrid digital subtraction angiography mask x-ray images are made at low and high x-ray tube anode kVp. Both exposures are terminated by AEC and the exposure times are calculated and stored and used to govern the times of a subsequent run sequence of alternate low and high energy pre-contrast and post-contrast exposure images. The data for the mask and subsequent images are stored individually on magnetic disk. A TV camera receives optical versions of the images. Its target is scanned or read out during a TV frame time between the end of a low energy exposure and the start of a high energy exposure. After the low energy mask exposure time is determined an anticipation or delay time is calculated and the low energy exposures in the run sequence are shifted from the vertical blank pulse preceding the frame in which the exposure starts by the delay time so all low energy exposures terminate coincident with the blanking pulse that precedes the read out frame. Since the high energy exposures are started at the end of the readout, minimum time between low and high exposures is achieved. High kVp is fixed. Low kVp and tube MA are selectable. High MA that the tube target can withstand thermally is calculated and adjusted so it will not result in excessive tube target bulk or focal spot temperature.

Growing community of inventors

Milwaukee, WI, United States of America

Barry F Belanger