Extracerebral CSF Volume Analysis for Early Dementia Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for diagnosing dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease, rely on cortical thickness measurements which are inconsistent across different medical imaging equipment and do not accurately capture early stages of brain atrophy.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing the volume of extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid regions in brain images to calculate a dementia-related index through image processing techniques or deep learning models, incorporating segmentation and volume analysis to assess brain atrophy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If cortical thickness measurements are used for dementia diagnosis, then diagnostic capability is provided, but measurement consistency deteriorates across different medical imaging equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the measurement parameter from cortical thickness to extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid volume. This parameter transformation resolves the contradiction because CSF volume measurements are less sensitive to variations in imaging equipment and protocols, providing both diagnostic accuracy for dementia and consistent measurements across different medical imaging systems.
2Measurement precision
If cortical thickness measurements are used, then dementia diagnosis is enabled, but early stage brain atrophy detection deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by detecting changes in extracerebral cerebrospinal fluid volume that occur before significant cortical thinning is visible. Since CSF volume increases earlier in the disease progression than cortical thickness decreases, this approach enables preliminary detection of brain atrophy in early stages of dementia, allowing for earlier intervention while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
Proposed is a method of calculating a dementia-related index from a brain image, the method including the following steps of receiving, by an analysis apparatus, a brain image of a subject, identifying, by the analysis apparatus, a region of interest from the brain image, calculating, by the analysis apparatus, the volume or area of the region of interest, and calculating, by the analysis apparatus, a dementia-related index of the subject on the basis of the volume or area.