Contrast Bolus Imaging via Cardiac Cycle Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional angiographic x-ray imaging requires significant amounts of contrast media to effectively enhance blood-carrying structures within patient anatomy, which can lead to excessive patient exposure and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A system that injects a small bolus of contrast medium intravenously and synchronizes x-ray image acquisition with the injection, combining images over several cardiac cycles to create a composite image of the vasculature, reducing the quantity of contrast medium needed by optimizing injection duration and flow rate, and accounting for cardiac cycle phases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional angiographic x-ray imaging uses significant amounts of contrast media, then blood-carrying structures are effectively enhanced in the image, but patient exposure to contrast media increases and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic cardiac cycle synchronization to acquire images at specific phases when contrast media is present in target vessels. By repeatedly imaging during diastolic phases across multiple cardiac cycles and combining these periodic acquisitions, the system achieves adequate vascular enhancement using significantly less contrast media than conventional single-phase imaging
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges multiple low-contrast images acquired over several cardiac cycles into a single composite image. By combining the diagnostic information from multiple acquisitions taken during different cardiac cycles, the system accumulates sufficient contrast signal to visualize vasculature while using fractionated, smaller amounts of contrast media
2Quantity of substance
If a small bolus of contrast medium is injected, then the quantity of contrast media is reduced, but adequate enhancement of blood-carrying structures becomes difficult to achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The system administers a small bolus of contrast media and then acquires images periodically during diastolic phases of multiple cardiac cycles. This periodic sampling captures the contrast media as it circulates through the vasculature over time, allowing adequate enhancement to be achieved through temporal accumulation rather than requiring a large single-dose bolus
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary cardiac cycle synchronization and timing setup before contrast injection. By pre-planning the acquisition timing relative to cardiac phases and knowing when the small bolus will reach target vessels, the system optimizes image acquisition to capture contrast enhancement at the right moments, ensuring adequate visualization despite using reduced contrast media
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 efficiently generates images of patient vasculature while minimizing the amount of contrast medium used, reducing patient exposure and costs compared to conventional methods.
Implementation Method 1
an x-ray image of the volume is acquired while the medium resides within blood-carrying structures of the volume. In the x-ray image, structures which contain the medium appear darker than they would otherwise appear
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method includes detection of a trigger event, automatic injection, in response to detecting the trigger event, of a bolus of contrast medium into a patient volume after expiration of a predetermined injection delay period, automatic acquisition, in response to detecting the trigger event, of a plurality of images after expiration of a predetermined imaging delay period, where two or more of the plurality of images comprise an image of the bolus at respective different locations within vasculature of the patient volume, generation of a composite image based on the plurality of images, the composite image including a representation of the vasculature of the patient volume, and display of the composite image.