Angiogram Background Cleaning for Device Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
During medical procedures like vascular catheterizations, contrast agents obscure devices positioned within body lumens, making it difficult to visualize radiopaque portions of medical tools or devices using extraluminal imaging.
Innovation Solution
A processor-based system generates a background image by assigning relative values to pixels based on their surroundings, then divides the input angiogram image by this background image to enhance the visibility of radiopaque device portions, producing a cleaned image that improves visualization of medical tools within body lumens or cavities injected with contrast agents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If contrast agent is injected into the vasculature to highlight the vasculature during imaging, then the visibility of blood vessels is improved, but the radiopaque portions of devices positioned within the vasculature become obscured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the background vascular structures from the angiogram image through image processing techniques. By separating the background (vascular structures) from the foreground (device portions), the system eliminates the obscuring effect of the contrast agent on device visibility while preserving the enhanced vascular visualization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary image processing step that acts as a mediator between the raw angiogram image and the final visualized output. This intermediary process (background subtraction/algorithms) processes the image data to remove the harmful obscuration effect while maintaining the beneficial contrast enhancement.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If extraluminal imaging is used to visualize devices within body lumens, then the ability to track device position is improved, but the contrast agent obscures the radiopaque portions of the device
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes the background vascular information from the imaging data, isolating the device portions of interest. This extraction process enables clear visualization and tracking of radiopaque device portions despite the presence of contrast agent in the vasculature.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of trying to see through the contrast agent obscuration directly, the patent inverts the approach by computationally removing the background vascular structures first, then visualizing the device portions. This inversion of the imaging problem-solving approach eliminates the obscuration issue.
3Illumination intensity
If background cleaning algorithm is applied to remove contrast agent obscuration, then the visibility of radiopaque device portions is improved, but the computational processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial background cleaning algorithms that process only the specific regions where device portions are expected to be located, rather than processing the entire image. This selective processing approach reduces computational time while maintaining effective visibility enhancement of the radiopaque portions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different processing qualities to different regions of the image. High-processing-quality algorithms are applied only to regions where device portions are detected or expected, while standard processing is applied to background regions. This local quality differentiation optimizes processing time while maintaining visualization effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and methods are described for use with an input angiogram image of a device inserted inside a portion of subject's body, the angiogram image being acquired in the presence of contrast agent. At least one processor (11) includes background-image-generation functionality (13) configured to generate a background image in which a relative value is assigned to a first pixel with respect to a second pixel, at least partially based upon relative values of surroundings of the first pixel and the surroundings of the second pixel in the input image. Cleaned-image-generation functionality (14) generates a cleaned image in which visibility of the radiopaque portions of the device is increased relative to the input image, by dividing the input image by the background image. Output-generation functionality (15) drives a display (16) to display an output based upon the cleaned image. Other applications are also described.