Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Siemens Healthcare Gmbh

Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc.

Siemens Corporation

Fernando Vega-Higuera

Dorin Comaniciu

Dominik Bernhardt

Bogdan Georgescu

Yefeng Zheng

Michael Scheuering

Razvan Ioan Ionasec

Huseyin Tek

Puneet Sharma

Shaohua Kevin Zhou

Ali Kamen

Sasa Grbic

Lucian Mihai Itu

Gareth Funka-Lea

Xudong Zheng

Sushil Mittal

Michael Kelm

Ingmar Voigt

Carsten Thierfelder

Helene C Houle

Yang Wang

Johann Uebler

Hua Zhong

Michael Sühling

Alexey Tsymbal

Bernhard Krauβ

Christina Biermann

Lei Zhang

Jörg Hausleiter

Jianhua Shen

A method and system for non-invasive assessment of coronary artery stenosis is disclosed. Patient-specific anatomical measurements of the coronary arteries are extracted from medical image data of a patient acquired during rest state. Patient-specific rest state boundary conditions of a model of coronary circulation representing the coronary arteries are calculated based on the patient-specific anatomical measurements and non-invasive clinical measurements of the patient at rest. Patient-specific rest state boundary conditions of the model of coronary circulation representing the coronary arteries are calculated based on the patient-specific anatomical measurements and non-invasive clinical measurements of the patient at rest. Hyperemic blood flow and pressure across at least one stenosis region of the coronary arteries are simulated using the model of coronary circulation and the patient-specific hyperemic boundary conditions. Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is calculated for the at least one stenosis region based on the simulated hyperemic blood flow and pressure.

Non-invasive functional assessment of coronary artery stenosis including simulation of hyperemia by changing resting microvascular resistance

A method and system for automatic coronary stenosis detection in computed tomography (CT) data is disclosed. Coronary artery centerlines are obtained in an input cardiac CT volume. A trained classifier, such as a probabilistic boosting tree (PBT) classifier, is used to detect stenosis regions along the centerlines in the input cardiac CT volume. The classifier classifies each of the control points that define the coronary artery centerlines as a stenosis point or a non-stenosis point.

Method and system for automatic detection of coronary stenosis in cardiac computed tomography data

A method and system for automatic aortic valve calcification evaluation is disclosed. A patient-specific aortic valve model in a 3D medical image volume, such as a 3D computed tomography (CT) volume. Calcifications in a region of the 3D medical image volume defined based on the aortic valve model. A 2D calcification plot is generated that shows locations of the segmented calcifications relative to aortic valve leaflets of the patient-specific aortic valve model. The 2D calcification plot can be used for assessing the suitability of a patient for a Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVI) procedure, as well as risk assessment, positioning of an aortic valve implant, and selection of a type of aortic valve implant.

Method and system for aortic valve calcification evaluation

A device is disclosed for determining and visualizing the perfusion of the myocardial muscle with the aid of static CCTA images. In at least one embodiment, the device includes a segmentation unit for segmenting the coronary blood vessels and the left myocardial muscle from a CCTA image of the heart; a first simulation unit for simulating the blood flow through the coronary blood vessels; and a second simulation unit by which the local perfusion of the myocardial muscle is determined on the basis of the ascertained blood flow into different regions of the myocardial muscle. The perfusion of the different regions of the myocardial muscle is visualized in a schematized image on a visualization unit. By virtue of the proposed device it is possible to dispense with further imaging examinations after the performance of a CCTA scan, thereby relieving the pressure both on the part of the physician and on the part of the patient.

Device and computed tomography scanner for determining and visualizing the perfusion of the myocardial muscle

A method and system for extracting coronary artery centerlines from 3D medical image volumes is disclosed. Heart chambers are segmented in a 3D volume. Coronary artery centerlines are initialized in the 3D volume coronary artery based on the segmented heart chambers. The coronary artery centerlines are locally refined based on a vesselness measure. A length of each coronary artery centerline is shrunk to verify that the coronary artery centerline is within a coronary artery. The coronary artery centerline is the extended using data-driven vessel tracing.

Method and system for coronary artery centerline extraction

A method and system for detection of native and bypass coronary ostia in a 3D volume, such as a CT volume, is disclosed. Native coronary ostia are detected by detecting a bounding box defining locations of a left native coronary ostium and a right native coronary ostium in the 3D volume using marginal space learning (MSL), and locally refining the locations of the left native coronary ostium and the right native coronary ostium using a trained native coronary ostium detector. Bypass coronary ostia are detected by segmenting an ascending aorta surface mesh in the 3D volume, generating a search region of a plurality of mesh points on the ascending aorta surface mesh based on a distribution of annotated bypass coronary ostia in a plurality of training volumes, and detecting the bypass coronary ostia by searching the plurality of mesh points in the search region.

Method and system for automatic native and bypass coronary ostia detection in cardiac computed tomography volumes

A method and system for segmentation and removal of pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and a left atrial appendage from 3D medical image data, such as 3D computed tomography (CT) volumes, is disclosed. A global shape model is segmented for each of pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and a left atrial appendage in a 3D volume. The segmented global shape model for each of the pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and left atrial appendage is locally refined based in local voxel intensities in the 3D volume, resulting in a respective mask for each structure. The mask is used to remove voxels belonging to the pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and left atrial appendage from the 3D volume in order to better visualize coronary arteries and bypass arteries.

Method and system for segmentation and removal of pulmonary arteries, veins, left atrial appendage

In a method for visualizing at least one section of a wall of an atrium of the heart in a patient after an ablation for treatment of atrial fibrillation, a volume data record of at least the treated atrium of the heart in the patient is segmented to establish voxels that are of an inner surface, an outer surface, and a volume situated between the inner and outer surfaces of the wall of the treated atrium. The at least one section of the wall of the treated atrium of the heart is visualized by volume rendering or ray casting such that only voxel values of the established voxels that lie on the inner surface in the volume or on the outer surface of the wall of the treated atrium are used.

Method for visualizing an atrium of the heart in a patient

A method and system for automated intervention planning for transcatheter aortic valve implantations using computed tomography (CT) data is disclosed. A patient-specific aortic valve model is detected in a CT volume of a patient. The patient-specific aortic valve model is detected by detecting a global location of the patient-specific aortic valve model in the CT volume, detecting aortic valve landmarks based on the detected global location, and fitting an aortic root surface model. Angulation parameters of a C-arm imaging device for acquiring intra-operative fluoroscopic images and anatomical measurements of the aortic valve are automatically determined based on the patient-specific aortic valve model.

Method and system for intervention planning for transcatheter aortic valve implantation from 3D computed tomography data

Heart valve operation is assessed with patient-specific medical diagnostic imaging data. To deal with the complex motion of the passive valve tissue, a hierarchal model is used. Rigid global motion of the overall valve, non-rigid local motion of landmarks of the valve, and surface motion of the valve are modeled sequentially. For the non-rigid local motion, a spectral trajectory approach is used in the model to determine location and motion of the landmarks more efficiently than detection and tracking. Given efficiencies in processing, more than one valve may be modeled at a same time. A graphic overlay representing the valve in four dimensions and/or quantities may be provided during an imaging session. One or more of these features may be used in combination or independently.

Valve assessment from medical diagnostic imaging data

A method and a data-processing system are disclosed for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries using image data from CT angiography. In at least one embodiment of the method, anatomical landmarks are detected in the image data in the region of the heart and coronary arteries are segmented taking into account the detected landmarks. Regions with an increased HU value compared to a contrast agent surroundings are segmented in the segmented coronary arteries. A proportion of calcium respectively is calculated from the segmented regions for one or more of the segmented coronary arteries. At least the last two steps are carried out fully automatically by a data-processing system. Weighting factors for the individual regions are used when calculating the proportion of calcium, which weighting factors depend on both the threshold for segmenting the respective region and the volume of said region. The method and the data-processing system of at least one embodiment allow the dose exposure of the patient to be reduced and reduce the time expenditure of the user for determining the proportion of calcium.

Method and data-processing system for determining the proportion of calcium in coronary arteries

A method and system for isolating the heart in a 3D volume, such as a cardiac CT volume, for patients with coronary artery bypasses is disclosed. An initial heart isolation mask is extracted from a 3D volume, such as a cardiac CT volume. The aortic root and ascending aorta are segmented in the 3D volume, resulting in an aorta mesh. The aorta mesh is expanded to include bypass coronary arteries. An expanded heart isolation mask is generated by combining the initial heart isolation mask with an expanded aorta mask defined by the expanded aorta mesh.

Growing community of inventors

Erlangen, Germany

Fernando Vega-Higuera