System, method and computer product for differentiating between tissue states and types

Inventors

TOLEDANO, Shani • Tshuva, Moshe • GAT, Sharon

Assignees

HT Bioimaging Ltd

Abstract

A method for differentiating between tissue states or types including receiving a sequence of thermal data of a tissue, wherein the sequence is sampled at at least one location of the tissue while the tissue is being thermally disturbed, deriving from the thermal data at least one tissue-related thermal variable associated with each of the tissue locations, segmenting the tissue into segments comprising the locations having corresponding the at least one thermal variable and generating an output indicating the tissue segments. The disclosure also includes a system and computer product for differentiating between tissue states or types.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to controlling a heating source to heat at least a surface of at least a portion of a tissue, from an initial, base temperature over a predetermined first period of time, and then allowing the tissue to passively return to the base temperature over a second period of time. Thermal data associated with the tissue is sampled over both the first period of time and the second period of time, and from the thermal data a set of thermal distribution-related features is derived with respect to each of a plurality of locations within the tissue.

Using the derived thermal distribution-related features, the invention generates a graphical representation of the tissue based on the set of thermal distribution-related features corresponding to the plurality of locations. In refinements, the graphical representation is segmented into segments tied to the plurality of locations, and the segments are mapped to tissue state/type values.

The thermal distribution-related features encompass calculating features for the heating period and the passive return period, enabling characterization of tissue using temporal thermal behavior. The described feature sets can include tissue organism metabolic heat source, heat loss due to blood perfusion, blood temperature, tissue density, specific heat, tissue thermal conductivity factor/coefficient/surface area, tissue surface temperature, time-dependent thermal gradient between tissue and ambient temperature, ambient temperature, and heat source temperature.

Claims Coverage

The provided claims include three independent claims: a method, a computer program product, and a system. Across these independent claims, the inventive features include thermally disturbing tissue, sampling thermal data over a heating period and a passive return period, deriving thermal distribution-related features across multiple locations using features from both periods, and generating a graphical representation based on those features.

Across the method, computer program product, and system, the independent claim coverage centers on deriving thermal distribution-related features from thermal data sampled during both a controlled heating period and a subsequent passive return period, and generating a graphical representation of tissue based on those location-wise features.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications