General Electric Company

Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Koninklijkle Philips N.v.

Yogisha Mallya

Srikanth Suryanarayanan

Rakesh Mullick

Krishna Seetharam Shriram

Vidya Pundalik Kamath

Prashant Kumar

Mukta Chandrashekhar Joshi

Ajay Gopinath

Xiaoye Wu

Robert F Senzig

David Allen Langan

James Vradenburg Miller

Paul Edgar Licato

Karl Antonin Bzdusek

Nithin Nagaraj

Mitali Janardan More

Tara Janen Mahan

Kumara Sanjaya

Souri Rajan Venkatesan

A method and system determines a utility of performing a re-planning on a patient during a radiation therapy planning. Quality improvements which may be made possible by re-planning the patient are automatically estimated, independent of clinician bias. This enables the clinician to make an informed decision regarding whether to re-plan the patient in a fast and efficient manner. This achieves more uniformity and predictability in the adaptive re-planning.

Method and system for automatic estimation of utility of adaptive radiation therapy re-planning

Adeformation vector field (DVF) ()is computed that relatively spatially registers a first image ()and a second image (). A contour ()delineating a structure in the first image is adapted using the DVF to generate an initial contour ()for the structure in the second image. A final contour ()is received for the structure in the second image. The DVF is corrected based on the initial and final contours for the structure in the second image to generate a corrected DVF (). The correction may comprise computing an adjustment DVF ()relating the initial and final contours and combining the DVF and the adjustment DVF to generate the corrected DVF. The final contour may be received by displaying the second image overlaid with the initial contour, and receiving user adjustments of the overlaid contour with the overlaid contour updated for each received user adjustment.

Integration of user inputs and correction of deformation vector field in deformable image registration workflow

A technique is provided for extracting one or more features of interest from one or more projection images. The technique includes accessing projection images comprising at least one feature of interest enhanced by a contrast agent, generating a contrast agent null image based on the projection images, generating a bone mask based on the contrast agent null image, and generating a bone extracted image based on the bone mask.

System and method for extracting features of interest from an image

A signal processing apparatus includes a phonocardiogram interface configured to receive a phonocardiogram signal captured according to a first set of capturing properties, a processor configured to analyze the phonocardiogram signal to determine an analysis result for the phonocardiogram signal and a confidence value of the determined analysis result, and a flow control configured to determine, whether a subsequent capture of the phonocardiogram signal according to a second set of capturing properties is likely to improve an accuracy of the determined analysis result. If applicable, the flow control coordinates the subsequent capture of the phonocardiogram signal according to the second set of capturing properties.

Signal processing apparatus and method for phonocardiogram signal

A technique for automatically labeling a CT image of the brain with anatomical information. The anatomical information is obtained from an atlas of the brain prepared from an MR image of the brain. The atlas contains image data that is referenced to the Talairach coordinate system. The atlas is aligned to the CT image and the coordinate system of the CT image data is transformed to the Talairach coordinate system. The alignment of the CT image and the atlas is performed using anatomical landmarks that are visible on both the CT image and the atlas. The CT image is then labeled automatically with the anatomical information in the atlas.

Brain image alignment method and system

A method includes performing an automatic partitioning of Neuro-vessels into a plurality of anatomically relevant circulatory systems using a CT system.

Vasculature partitioning methods and apparatus

A technique for producing a three-dimensional segmented image of blood vessels and automatically labeling the blood vessels. A scanned image of the head is obtained and an algorithm is used to segment the blood vessel image data from the image data of other tissues in the image. An algorithm is used to partition the blood vessel image data into sub-volumes that are then used to designate the root ends and the endpoints of major arteries. An algorithm is used to identify a seed-point voxel in one of the blood vessels within one of the sub-volume of the partition. Other voxels are then coded based on their geodesic distance from the seed-point voxel. An algorithm is used to identify endpoints of the arteries. This algorithm may also be used in the other sub-volumes to locate the starting points and endpoints of other blood vessels. One sub-volume is further sub-divided into left and right, anterior, medial, and posterior zones. Based on their location in one of these zones, the voxels corresponding to the endpoints of the blood vessels are labeled. Starting from these endpoints, the artery segments are tracked back to their starting points using an algorithm that simultaneously labels all of the blood vessel voxels along the path with a corresponding anatomical label identifying the blood vessel to which it belongs.

Vascular image extraction and labeling system and method

A technique is provided for automatically generating a bone mask in CTA angiography. In accordance with the technique, an image data set may be pre-processed to accomplish a variety of function, such as removal of image data associated with the table, partitioning the volume into regionally consistent sub-volumes, computing structures edges based on gradients, and/or calculating seed points for subsequent region growing. The pre-processed data may then be automatically segmented for bone and vascular structure. The automatic vascular segmentation may be accomplished using constrained region growing in which the constraints are dynamically updated based upon local statistics of the image data. The vascular structure may be subtracted from the bone structure to generate a bone mask. The bone mask may in turn be subtracted from the image data set to generate a bone-free CTA volume for reconstruction of volume renderings.

Method and apparatus for segmenting structure in CT angiography

A method for improving a resolution of an image is provided. The method includes reconstructing an image of an initial portion of an object at an initial resolution, and reconstructing an additional portion of the object at an additional resolution.

Systems and methods for improving a resolution of an image

A technique is provided for segmenting a structure of interest from a volume dataset. The technique identifies regions of the structure using templates having characteristics of the structure of interest. The identified regions may then undergo a constrained growth process using dynamic constraints that may vary based on local statistics associated with the identified structure regions. Edges within the volume may be determined using gradient data determined by evaluating the strongest gradient between each pixel and all adjacent pixels. The edge data may be used to prevent the constrained growing process from exceeding the boundaries of the structure of interest.

Method and apparatus for extracting multi-dimensional structures using dynamic constraints

A technique is provided for partitioning an imaged volume into two or more sub-volumes. The technique identifies partition lines which separate the sub-volumes by generating a profile, such as a bone profile, which is then analyzed to determine the placement of the partition lines. In one embodiment, placement of the partition lines is determined automatically by applying one or more sets of hierarchical rules to the profile. After separation of the imaged volume into sub-volumes, each sub-volume may be differentially segmented such that segmentation is customized for the sub-volume. Likewise, after separation of the imaged volume into sub-volumes, the acquisition parameters for each sub-volume may be customized for subsequent acquisitions.

Method and apparatus for partitioning a volume

A technique is provided for automatically identifying regions of bone or other structural regions within a reconstructed CT volume data set. The technique identifies and labels regions within the data set and computes various statistics for the regions. A rule-based classifier processes the statistics to classify each region. Incidental connections between disparate regions are eliminated. A structure mask, such as a bone mask, is then constructed after exclusion of regions of interest, such as a vascular map. The structure mask may then be used to construct a volume rendering free of the structure, such as bone-free.

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Bengaluru, India

Yogisha Mallya