The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 30, 2001
Filed:
May. 10, 1999
Applicant:
Inventor:
Erika Schneider, Pawcatuck, CT (US);
Assignee:
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01V 3/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01V 3/00 ;
Abstract
A 3D MR image is acquired before injection of a contrast agent and an enhanced 3D image is acquired after injection of the contrast agent. The two images are registered and then subtracted to remove background and to highlight lesion voxels. Lesion objects are identified by connecting contiguous lesion objects. Volume and surface area of any continuous lesion object in a discrete digital image are then calculated. Malignant lesions are identified by determining the ratio of volume to surface area for each lesion object. Malignant tumors are identified when this ratio drops below a preset threshold.