Method and apparatus for imaging an organ
Inventors
IRVING, Benjamin J • HUTTON, Chloe • JOHN, Brady Michael
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11334999-B2
Publication Date
2022-05-17
Expiration Date
Abstract
A method of quantifying changes in a visceral organ comprises acquiring first (310) and second (410) medical scans of a visceral organ at first and second timepoints. At least part of the visceral organ in the first medical scan is parcellated into a first set of one or more subregions (420), based on image content, each subregion comprising a plurality of voxels. The first medical scan (310) is aligned to the second medical scan (410), before or after parcellating the first medical scan (310). Then the second medical scan is parcellated into a second set of one or more subregions. A metric is evaluated for a subregion in the first medical scan (310), and for the corresponding subregion in the second medical scan (410). A difference in the metric values provides a measure of a change that has occurred in the subregion, between the first and second timepoints.
Core Innovation
The invention quantifies changes in a visceral organ of a human subject by acquiring a first medical MRI scan at a first timepoint and a second medical MRI scan at a second timepoint, where the second timepoint may be before or after the first timepoint. Each scan provides voxels with quantitative T1 values, quantitative T2* values, cT1 values based on T1 values using T2* as a correction, and/or PDFF values, including combinations of these voxel-wise values.
The method parcellates at least part of a first image of the visceral organ into a first set of non-overlapping voxel-based subregions defined by a regional representation comprising a plurality of voxels, based on image content. The first and second medical scans are aligned, either before or after parcellating the first image, so that the second image can be parcellated into corresponding non-overlapping subregions. Parcellating at least part of the second image is based on the first set of subregions.
For each corresponding subregion, the method evaluates a metric for the first image to provide a first value and evaluates the metric for the corresponding subregion in the second image to provide a second value. The method evaluates a difference between the first value and the second value of the metric, where the difference corresponds to subregion changes in the T1 values, T2* values, cT1 values, and/or PDFF values. This thereby provides a measure of a change that has occurred in the subregion between the first timepoint and the second timepoint.
Claims Coverage
The provided partial content includes three independent claims: a method claim, a method claim with joint parcellation, and a medical scanning system claim. Across these independent claims, the coverage includes voxel-wise quantitative MRI parameter values, content-based parcellation into non-overlapping voxel-based subregions, scan alignment, corresponding subregion definition between timepoints, and subregion-wise evaluation of metric differences for T1, T2*, cT1, and/or PDFF changes.
Voxel-wise quantitative MRI metric values for visceral organ change
Each voxel in the first and second sets of voxels provides either quantitative T1 values, quantitative T2* values, cT1 values that are based on T1 values using T2* as a correction, or PDFF values; or a combination of T1, T2* and/or PDFF values.
Image content-based parcellation into non-overlapping voxel-based subregions
Parcellating at least part of the first image of the visceral organ into a first set of subregions based on image content, each subregion being defined by a regional representation comprising a plurality of voxels and being non-overlapping with other subregions of the first set of subregions.
Aligning first and second scans and parcellating the second image based on the first subregions
Aligning the first medical scan and the second medical scan, before or after parcellating the first image of the visceral organ; parcellating at least part of the second image of the visceral organ into a second set of subregions, each subregion being defined by a regional representation comprising a plurality of voxels and being non-overlapping with other subregions; wherein parcellating at least part of the second image is based on the first set of subregions.
Subregion-wise metric difference provides a measure of change between timepoints
Evaluating a metric for a subregion in the first image of the visceral organ to provide a first value and evaluating the metric for a corresponding subregion in the second image to provide a second value; evaluating a difference between the first value and the second value, being a difference for the subregion in either: the T1 values, the T2* values, the cT1 values, or the PDFF values thereby providing a measure of a change that has occurred in the subregion between the first timepoint and the second timepoint.
Joint alignment and joint parcellation producing corresponding subregions
Aligning the first medical scan and the second medical scan, and then parcellating the first image and the second image jointly, based on image content for at least part of the first image and the second image, whereby the first set of subregions and the second set of subregions correspond.
Medical scanning system configured for subregion-based MRI change quantification
A medical scanning system comprising a medical MRI imaging device configured to acquire first and second MRI scans at first and second timepoints and provide voxel-wise T1/T2*/cT1/PDFF values, and a processor configured to parcellate at least part of the first image into a first set of non-overlapping voxel-based subregions, align the scans, parcellate the second image into a second set of subregions based on the first set of subregions, and evaluate a difference between first and second metric values for corresponding subregions to provide a measure of change between timepoints.
Across the independent claims, the central inventive combination is voxel-wise quantitative MRI metrics, content-based parcellation into non-overlapping voxel-based subregions, alignment of scans and corresponding subregions between timepoints, and subregion-wise metric differences to provide a measure of change between the first and second timepoints.
Stated Advantages
Provides a measure of a change that has occurred in the subregion between the first timepoint and the second timepoint.
Enables evaluation of differences in quantitative subregion metrics based on voxel-wise T1 values, T2* values, cT1 values, and/or PDFF values.
Documented Applications
Applied to quantifying changes in visceral organs such as the liver, spleen, pancreas, and kidneys using MRI scans acquired at different timepoints.
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