Composite Gating for Organ Motion in Medical Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical imaging techniques, such as MRI and CT, often produce flawed images due to internal organ motion, which existing gating techniques may not fully account for, leading to motion-related artifacts.
Innovation Solution
A method to detect and measure the overall motion of internal organs using multi-input motion data from both sensor-based and image-data sources, allowing for the determination of quiescent periods and motion compensation factors to reduce artifacts in images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If gating techniques use only cardiac motion information from ECG or mechanical cardiography, then cardiac contraction phase can be determined, but overall organ motion cannot be fully characterized due to unaccounted respiratory motion and other proximate organ movements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple motion information sources including ECG signals, mechanical cardiography, and respiratory motion detection into a unified gating system. This merging of multiple measurement modalities allows comprehensive characterization of overall organ motion by integrating cardiac contraction data with respiratory and other proximate organ motion data, thereby resolving the limitation of using single-source gating information
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces additional motion sensors and processing mechanisms as intermediaries to capture and integrate respiratory and other proximate organ motions. These intermediary components serve as bridges between the primary cardiac monitoring system and the overall motion characterization requirement, enabling the system to account for multiple motion sources without requiring complete system redesign
2Reliability
If multiple motion data sources are integrated to fully characterize organ motion, then motion artifacts can be reduced, but system complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the motion detection function into distinct modular components: cardiac motion detection via ECG, mechanical cardiography, and respiratory motion detection. Each module independently captures specific motion aspects and feeds processed information to the gating mechanism. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by creating manageable, independent functional blocks while maintaining comprehensive motion characterization
Solution Approach 2:
The gating system is designed with multi-functionality to handle various types of motion data from different sources. The system can process and integrate cardiac signals, respiratory signals, and other motion inputs through a unified gating mechanism that adapts to different input types. This universal approach reduces the need for separate specialized systems for each motion source, thereby managing complexity while achieving reliable image quality
Data Source
AI summary
One or more techniques are provided for determining the overall motion of an organ of interest relative to a viewer or imager. Motion data is acquired for the organ of interest and/or for one or more proximate organs using sensor-based and/or image data-based techniques. The sensor-based techniques may include electrical and non-electrical techniques. The image data-based techniques may include both pre-acquisition and acquisition image data. The motion data for the organ of interest and proximate organs may be used to determine one or more quiescent periods corresponding to intervals of minimal motion for the organ of interest and the proximate organs. The one or more quiescent periods may be used to determine one or more gating points that may be used prospectively, i.e., during image acquisition, and retrospectively, i.e., after image acquisition. In addition, the one or more quiescent periods may be used to determine one or more motion compensation factors that may be used during processing and reconstruction of the acquired image data. The gating points and motion compensation factors may be used, separately or together, to reduce motion-related artifacts in the reconstructed images.