Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Lucile Nosjean

Raoul Florent

Pierre Henri Lelong

Peter Maria Johannes Rongen

Juergen Weese

Sabine Mollus

Peter Rongen

A method and an image processing system for the evaluation of projection images generated by an X-ray imaging system, wherein the images may show different instruments of a given set of interventional instruments like catheters or guide wires. The instruments are equipped with markers such that their configuration is characteristic of the corresponding instrument. Preferably three markers are arranged on a straight line, the ratio of the distances between them being characteristic for the corresponding instrument. The image processing system may then identify the instruments present in a given projection and provide functionalities for a user that correspond to said instruments. Moreover, the system may be used to locate an instrument of interest in a projection image if the marker configuration of that instrument is known a priori.

Processing of images of interventional instruments with markers

A medical viewing system for displaying a sequence of medical images that represents moving and/or positioning a guide-wire in a blood vessel, which guide-wire has a guide-wire tip that is contrasted with respect to the guide wire, this system comprising acquisition means that acquires an original sequence of noisy images called live sequence and processing means for processing said live sequence of images in real time, the processing means comprising: first means () for automatically detecting the guide-wire tip, yielding skeleton information of the guide-wire tip and a field of motion vectors based on said skeleton information; second means () for automatically registering the guide-wire tip with respect to a reference based on the field of motion vectors and for enhancing the guide-wire and the vessel walls while blurring the background in the registered images; and comprising: Display means for displaying a live sequence of processed images.

Medical viewing system and method for detecting boundary structures

The invention relates to a system and a method for detecting an object of interest in a sequence of medical images. Said viewing system comprises alarm detection means () for detecting a set of alarms of said object of interest in a medical image (I') at time t, in which an alarms is a set of data describing a possible location of the object. It further comprise temporal tracking means () for iteratively creating a set of tracks (T&#x2032;) at time t by associating alarms of said set of alarms (A&#x2032;) with tracks (T&#x2032;) at time t&#x2212;1 and for choosing a track from among said set of tracks at time t in accordance with a merit criterion. Said track at time t is ended by an alarm which corresponds to a detection of said object of interest in said medical image at time t. Said viewing system advantageously accumulates temporal proofs for confirming or infirming spatial detections of alarms at time t. Detection of the object of interest is therefore made more robust to errors.

System and method for enhancing an object of interest in noisy medical images

The invention relates to a viewing system and a method for detecting an object of interest in a sequence of images (IS). Said object of interest is detected by first locating localizers related to said object of interest and by locating borders (BL) related to said object of interest using the location (LI, LZ) of said localizers. The viewing system according to the invention is able to produce a sequence of enhanced images in which the object of interest is enhanced, to measure some characteristics and to build a three dimensional representation of said object of interest. The viewing system is also able to register and combine said sequence of enhanced images with a sequence of reference images.

Medical viewing system and method for detecting borders of an object of interest in noisy images

A viewing system and method for enhancing objects of interest represented on a moving background in a sequence of noisy images and for displaying the sequence of enhanced images, comprising extracting means () for extracting features related to an object of interest in images of the sequence; registering means () for registering the features related to the object of interest with respect to the image referential, yielding registered images (); similarity detection means for determining the resemblance of the representations of a registered object of interest in succeeding images and weighing means for modulating the intensities of the pixels of said object of interest over the images of the sequence; temporal integrating means () for integrating the object of interest and the background over a number, or at least two, registered images () of the sequence; and display means () for displaying the processed images () of the enhanced registered object of interest on faded background. Application: Medical Imaging. X-ray Fluoroscopic Imaging.

Medical viewing system and method for enhancing structures in noisy images

A viewing system and method comprises an extracting device, a spatial enhancement device, and a display device. The extracting device () extracts features related to an object of interest in images of a sequence. The spatial enhancement device () includes a ridge filter modulated by factor to enhance the object of interest to the exclusion of background objects. The display device () displays the processed images () of the enhanced registered object of interest on a faded background.

Medical viewing system and method for spatially enhancing structures in noisy images

A medical viewing system for displaying a sequence of images of a medical intervention that comprises moving and/or positioning a tool in a body organ, which tool is carried by a support to which at least one marker is attached at a predetermined location with respect to the tool, comprising means for acquiring the sequence of images, and for processing said images during the medical intervention, wherein: extracting means for automatically extracting at least one marker that is attached to the tool support and that neither belongs to the tool nor to the body organ, and yielding the marker location information; computing means for automatically deriving the tool location information from the marker location information, and enhancing means for improving the visibility of the tool and/or the body organ in order to check whether the medical intervention stages are successfully carried out.

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Rueil-Malmaison, France

Lucile Nosjean