Ultrasound Contrast Agent Kinetics Quantification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical imaging techniques using target-specific contrast agents face challenges in accurately detecting and quantifying immobilized agents due to interference from circulating agents, leading to inaccurate representation of immobilization rates.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that models the echo signal from immobilized contrast agents by incorporating a decay function, in addition to circulation and immobilization functions, to separate the contributions of circulating and immobilized agents, allowing for precise estimation of immobilization kinetics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a mathematical model consisting of weighted sum of γ-variate function and integral of γ-variate is used to model echo signal, then the circulation and immobilization of contrast agent can be represented, but the measurement precision of immobilization rate is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the functional form of the model from γ-variate functions to a product of exponential functions (one for circulation decay, one for immobilization accumulation). This parameter change in the mathematical model structure allows for more accurate separation of circulating and immobilized contrast agent signals, thereby improving measurement precision of immobilization rates while maintaining modeling capability.
2Reliability
If targeted contrast agent is administered to achieve target-specific imaging, then the detection of specific pathologies is improved, but the quantification of immobilized agent is hindered by circulating agent interference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the echo signal into two distinct components: one representing circulating contrast agent (modeled by exponential decay) and another representing immobilized contrast agent (modeled by exponential accumulation). By mathematically separating these two overlapping signals, the method enables accurate quantification of immobilized agent while preserving the reliability of pathology detection using targeted contrast agents.
3Duration of action of moving object
If contrast agent circulation time is extended to allow sufficient immobilization, then the immobilization completeness is improved, but the separation of circulating and immobilized signals becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic exponential functions that continuously model the changing concentrations of circulating and immobilized contrast agent over time. The circulation component uses exponential decay while the immobilization component uses exponential accumulation, allowing the model to dynamically separate signals even during extended circulation periods when both components are present and overlapping.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables accurate detection and quantification of immobilized contrast agents, improving the clinical applicability of targeted contrast agents for imaging, particularly in assessing diseases like cancer and inflammatory processes.
Implementation Method 1
the contrast agent acts as an efficient ultrasound reflector, so that it can be easily detected by applying ultrasound waves and measuring a resulting echo signal
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A solution is proposed for analyzing a body part (155) of a patient (160), which is perfused with a contrast agent capable of circulating within the patient and of being substantially immobilized on a biological target. A corresponding system (105) includes means (405-440) for providing an echo signal indicative of a response over time to an interrogation signal of the body part, means (442,450) for associating the echo signal with a model function of time modeling an evolution over time of the contrast agent in the body part, the model function including a combination of a circulation function modeling the circulation of the contrast agent and a decay function modeling a decay of the echo signal from the immobilized contrast agent, and means (455-475) for estimating at least one kinetics indicator of the contrast agent from the model function.