Local Bone Suppression in Cardiac X-ray Angiography
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Solution Overview
Problem
In X-ray imaging, particularly during cardiac or vascular interventions, bone structures often overlay with target anatomy, making it difficult to perceive faint or subtle structures due to superposition, and existing bone suppression methods are not effective for cardiac angiography as they may unintentionally suppress small vessels.
Innovation Solution
A medical image viewing device and method that provides a partly-bone-suppressed image by identifying and locally suppressing bone structures in specific areas of an angiographic image, allowing detailed information in regions of interest while maintaining bone structures outside these areas as anatomical markers for navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If bone structures are suppressed in X-ray images, then visibility of target anatomy is improved, but small vessels may be unintentionally suppressed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local bone suppression by defining a region of interest (ROI) around the target anatomy and suppressing bones only within this localized area. The system calculates an influence field based on distance from the ROI boundary, applying stronger suppression near the center and weaker suppression at the edges. This local approach prevents unintentional suppression of small vessels outside the ROI while improving visibility of the target area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the X-ray image into different regions: a central region of interest where bone suppression is applied, and peripheral regions where bones remain visible. The influence field is divided into zones with different suppression strengths, allowing selective bone removal that distinguishes between target anatomy and surrounding structures.
2Loss of information
If bone structures are completely removed from X-ray images, then perception of faint structures is improved, but anatomical markers for navigation are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains different bone visibility characteristics in different regions: complete or strong suppression within the ROI for improved perception, while preserving bone structures outside the ROI to serve as anatomical markers for navigation. The influence field creates a gradient that maintains some bone visibility at the periphery.
3Loss of information
If bone suppression is applied to the entire X-ray image, then visibility in the region of interest is improved, but navigation using bone markers becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the image into a central region of interest with strong bone suppression and peripheral regions with preserved bone structures. This spatial segmentation allows the ROI to benefit from improved visibility while surrounding bones remain available as navigation markers.
Solution Approach 2:
The bone suppression is applied non-uniformly across the image, with high suppression strength in the ROI and lower or no suppression at the periphery. This local quality variation enables simultaneous optimization of visibility in the target area and navigation capability through preserved peripheral bone markers.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to medical image viewing in relation with navigation in X-ray imaging. In order to provide improved X-ray images, for example for cardiac procedures, allowing a facilitated perception while ensuring that increased details are visible, a medical image viewing device (10) for navigation in X-ray imaging is provided that comprises an image data providing unit (12), a processing unit (14), and a display unit (16). The image data providing unit is configured to provide an angiographic image of a region of interest of an object. The processing unit is configured to identify a suppression area for partial bone suppression within the angiographic image, and to identify and locally suppress predetermined bone structures in the angiographic image in the suppression area, and to generate a partly-bone-suppressed image. Further, the display unit is configured to display the partly-bone-suppressed image.