Clinical assessment of fragile bone strength

Inventors

Kopperdahl, David L. • Hoffmann, Paul Frederick • Lee, David Choen • Hayeck, Garry Thomas • Keaveny, Tony M.

Assignees

O N Diagnostics LLC

Abstract

A system and method for the use of the results from a structural analysis of a patient's bone from a clinical scan, to be used clinically to manage patients in a widespread and consistent fashion.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to generating a medical report for a classification of a fragile-bone-strength condition for a patient by deriving, using a finite element analysis, a bone strength value of a bone strength parameter for a bone portion of the patient. The patient is classified for the fragile-bone-strength condition based on a processor-implemented comparison of the bone strength value and a predetermined interventional threshold value, and the fragile-bone-strength classification is written to a medical report.

The invention further includes receiving a medical image of the bone portion and deriving the bone strength value using a finite element analysis of the medical image. The medical image may be generated from a computed tomography (CT) scanner or a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanner, or may include one or more elements selected from a computed tomography (CT) scan, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan, an x-ray radiograph, an ultrasound scan, and combinations thereof.

The invention also supports classifying bone-strength conditions and writing the resulting bone-strength classification for the patient to a medical report, where the bone-strength classification is responsive to processor-implemented comparisons of the bone strength value and one or more predetermined interventional threshold values. The bone-strength classification may include one or more elements selected from fragile-bone-strength, low-bone-strength, and normal-bone-strength responsive to the comparisons.

The invention further generates a medical report containing a fracture-risk classification by receiving a bone mineral density (BMD) value of a BMD parameter for a bone portion of the patient, receiving one or more predetermined interventional threshold values for one or more respective BMD conditions for the BMD parameter, and classifying the patient for a BMD condition responsive to a processor-implemented comparison of the BMD value and the predetermined interventional threshold values. A fracture-risk classification is then produced responsive to a processor-implemented logical combination of the bone-strength classification and the BMD classification and is written to the medical report.

Claims Coverage

The partial content includes four independent claims. Overall, the independent claims center on finite element-derived bone strength values, predetermined interventional threshold values, processor-implemented comparisons, and writing resulting classifications to a medical report.

Across the independent claims, the core claim coverage is directed to generating and writing medical reports that classify fragile-bone-strength and/or bone-strength conditions using finite element analysis-derived bone strength values and predetermined interventional threshold values, and to generating fracture-risk classifications using logical combination of a bone-strength classification with a BMD classification.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications