University of Michigan

Benjamin A Hoff

Brian Dale Ross

Craig Galban

Nicholas S Burris

Ella Kazerooni

Thoracic aortic aneurysm is a common and lethal disease that requires regular imaging surveillance to determine timing of surgical repair and prevent major complications such as rupture. Current cross-sectional imaging surveillance techniques, largely based on computed tomography angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), are focused on measurement of maximal aortic diameter, although this approach is limited to fixed anatomic positions and is prone to significant measurement error. The present techniques demonstrate novel approaches (generally termed herein 'Vascular Deformation Mapping (VDM)') for assessing changes in aortic dimensions. The present techniques quantify three-dimensional changes in the anatomic dimensions of a vessel through a process that involves non-rigid co-registration of serial imaging data and quantification of vascular deformation on a 3D surface model using some derivation of the spatial deformations resulting from the optimized spatial transform.

Techniques of deformation analysis for quantification of vascular enlargement

Computer-implemented methods are used to analyze a medical image to assess the state of the sample region. In at least one embodiment, the method comprises receiving at least one medical image collected previously from an image source, the at least one medical image comprising a plurality of voxels, each characterized by a signal value; classifying the signal value of each voxel as representing one of healthy tissue or diseased tissue based on a threshold value; and analyzing at least one topographical feature of the at least one medical image.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Benjamin A Hoff