153 results about "Cardiac imaging" patented technology

A method for planning minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) for a patient includes obtaining acquisition data from a medical imaging system, and generating a 3D model of the coronary arteries and one or more cardiac chambers of interest. One or more anatomical landmarks are identified on the 3D model, and saved views of the 3D model are registered on an interventional system. One or more of the registered saved views are visualized with the interventional system.

A method and system for propagation of myocardial infarction from delayed enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI) to cine MRI is disclosed. A reference frame is selected in a cine MRI sequence. Deformation fields are calculated within the cine MRI sequence to register the frames of the cine MRI sequence to the reference frame. A DE-MRI image having an infarction region is registered to the reference frame of the cine MRI sequence. The DE-MRI image may be registered to the infarction region using a hybrid registration algorithm that unifies both intensity and feature points into a single cost function. Infarction information in the DE-MRI image is then propagated cardiac phases of the frames in the cine MRI sequence based on the registration of the DE-MRI image to the reference frame and the plurality of deformation fields calculated within the cine MRI sequence.

A method for quantifying cardiac desynchrony of the right and left ventricles includes obtaining cardiac acquisition data from a medical imaging system, and determining a movement profile from the cardiac acquisition data. The movement profile is directed toward identifying at least one of a time-based contraction parameter for a region of the left ventricle (LV), and a displacement-based contraction parameter for a region of the LV. The determined movement profile is visually displayed by generating a 3D model therefrom.

A single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system for cardiac imaging including an open arc-shaped frame. A collimator subsystem is shaped to approximately match the thoracic contour to optimize the geometric efficiency for detecting photons emitted from the heart of patients having different sizes and weights and shaped to surround and position the collimator subsystem closely proximate a heart of a patient of the patients encompassed by at least one predetermined image volume for optimizing collimation of radiation photons emitted from the heart. The collimator subsystem is facilitated by a tracking system that is capable of quickly bringing up the collimator component, which meets a specific set of collimation requirements, into place for imaging. And an open arc-shaped detector system is coupled to the collimator subsystem having a shape closely matching the shape of the collimator subsystem for detecting collimated radiation photons from the collimator subsystem and generating output electrical signals.

This invention features an integrated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) / transmission computed tomography (TCT) system for cardiac imaging including an open arc-shaped frame. A collimator system is shaped to approximately match the thoracic contour of patients having different sizes and weights and shaped to surround and position the collimator closely proximate a heart of a patient of said patients encompassed by at least one predetermined image volume for optimizing collimation of radiation photons emitted from the heart. An arc-shaped detector system is coupled to the collimator subsystem having a shape closely matching the shape of the collimator subsystem for detecting collimated radiation photons from the collimator subsystem and generating output electrical signals. A patient positioning subsystem positions a patient to a predetermined central longitudinal axis of the three-dimensional imaging volume and for intermittently and incrementally rotating the patient about the predetermined central longitudinal axis for generating a plurality of TCT images.

CAD (computer-aided diagnosis) systems and applications for cardiac imaging are provided, which implement methods to automatically extract and analyze features from a collection of patient information (including image data and / or non-image data) of a subject patient, to provide decision support for various aspects of physician workflow including, for example, automated assessment of regional myocardial function through wall motion analysis, automated diagnosis of heart diseases and conditions such as cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease and other heart-related medical conditions, and other automated decision support functions. The CAD systems implement machine-learning techniques that use a set of training data obtained (learned) from a database of labeled patient cases in one or more relevant clinical domains and / or expert interpretations of such data to enable the CAD systems to “learn” to analyze patient data and make proper diagnostic assessments and decisions for assisting physician workflow.

A cardiovascular imaging and functional analysis system and method is disclosed, wherein a dedicated fast, sensitive, compact and economical imaging gamma camera system that is especially suited for heart imaging and functional analysis is employed. The cardiovascular imaging and functional analysis system of the present invention can be used as a dedicated nuclear cardiology small field of view imaging camera. The disclosed cardiovascular imaging system and method has the advantages of being able to image physiology, while offering an inexpensive and portable hardware, unlike MRI, CT, and echocardiography systems.The cardiovascular imaging system of the invention employs a basic modular design suitable for cardiac imaging with one of several radionucleide tracers. The detector can be positioned in close proximity to the chest and heart from several different projections, making it possible rapidly to accumulate data for first-pass analysis, positron imaging, quantitative stress perfusion, and multi-gated equilibrium pooled blood (MUGA) tests..In a preferred embodiment, the Cardiovascular Non-Invasive Screening Probe system can perform a novel diagnostic screening test for potential victims of coronary artery disease. The system provides a rapid, inexpensive preliminary indication of coronary occlusive disease by measuring the activity of emitted particles from an injected bolus of radioactive tracer. Ratios of this activity with the time progression of the injected bolus of radioactive tracer are used to perform diagnosis of the coronary patency (artery disease).

The present invention relates to a method for tracking motion phase of an object. A plurality of projection data indicative of a cross-sectional image of the object is received. The projection data are processed for determining motion projection data of the object indicative of motion of the object based on the attenuation along at least a same line through the object at different time instances. A motion phase of the object with the object having the least motion is selected. Finally, projection data acquired at time instances within the selected motion phase of the object are selected for tomographical image reconstruction. Reconstructed images clearly show a substantial improvement in image quality by successfully removing motion artifacts using the method for tracking motion phase of an object according to the invention. The method is highly beneficial in cardiac imaging using X-ray CT scan.

A combination of an ultrasonic scanner and an omnidirectional receive transducer for producing a two-dimensional image from the echoes received by the single omnidirectional transducer is described. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by additional transducers. These can be combined to produce images with better signal to noise ratios and lateral resolution. Also disclosed is a method based on information content to compensate for the different delays for different paths through intervening tissue is described. Specular reflections are attenuated by using even a single omnidirectional receiver displaced from the insonifying probe. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging but are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces. Since lateral resolution is determined primarily by the aperture defined by the end elements, it is not necessary to fill the entire aperture with equally spaced elements. In fact, gaps can be left to accommodate spanning a patient's ribs, or simply to reduce the cost of the large aperture array. Multiple slices using these methods can be combined to form three-dimensional images.

This specification discloses 2-adenosine N-pyrazole compounds having the following formula:and methods for using the compounds as A2A receptor agonists to stimulate mammalian coronary vasodilatation for therapeutic purposes and for purposes of imaging the heart.

Systems and methods are provided for automated assessment of regional myocardial function using wall motion analysis methods that analyze various features / parameters of patient information (image data and non-image data) obtained from medical records of a patient. For example, a method for providing automatic diagnostic support for cardiac imaging generally comprises obtaining image data of a heart of a patient, obtaining features from the image data of the heart, which are related to motion of the myocardium of the heart, and automatically assessing regional myocardial function of one or more regions of a myocardial wall using the obtained features.

The present invention related to an ultrasound imaging system win which the scan head includes a beamformer circuit that performs far field subarray beamforming or includes a sparse array selecting circuit that actuates selected elements. When using a hierarchical two-stage or three-stage beamforming system, three dimensional ultrasound images can be generated in real-time. The invention further relates to flexible printed circuit boards in the probe head. The invention furthermore related to the use. of coded or spread spectrum signaling in ultrasound imagining systems. Matched filters based on pulse compression using Golay code pairs improve the signal-to-noise ratio thus enabling third harmonic imaging with suppressed sidelobes. The system is suitable for 3D full volume cardiac imaging.

A method and system for generating a patient specific anatomical heart model is disclosed. A sequence of volumetric image data, such as computed tomography (CT), echocardiography, or magnetic resonance (MR) image data of a patient's cardiac region is received. A multi-component patient specific 4D geometric model of the heart and aorta estimated from the sequence of volumetric cardiac imaging data. A patient specific 4D computational model based on one or more of personalized geometry, material properties, fluid boundary conditions, and flow velocity measurements in the 4D geometric model is generated. Patient specific material properties of the aortic wall are estimated using the 4D geometrical model and the 4D computational model. Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations are performed using the 4D computational model and estimated material properties of the aortic wall, and patient specific clinical parameters are extracted based on the FSI simulations. Disease progression modeling and risk stratification are performed based on the patient specific clinical parameters.