Elevation Maps for Isolating Disease Features in Tissue Layers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for generating tissue layer thickness maps often fail to reveal diagnostically meaningful features of diseased tissue, as they cannot isolate the effect of disease from the overall tissue shape, leading to incomplete diagnostic information.
Innovation Solution
A method that uses a fitted smooth reference surface to create elevation maps of tissue layers or boundaries, allowing for the isolation of disease-related perturbations and providing more accurate diagnostic information by combining elevation data with other tissue-dependent information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a tissue layer thickness map is generated by measuring the distance between inner and outer boundaries, then the overall tissue layer thickness is obtained, but the diagnostically meaningful features of diseased tissue cannot be revealed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tissue layer analysis into two distinct components: (1) the overall thickness measurement between inner and outer boundaries, and (2) the elevation map of the inner boundary relative to a fitted smooth surface of the outer boundary. This segmentation allows both the global thickness information and local diseased features to be preserved and analyzed separately, resolving the contradiction between obtaining overall thickness and revealing diagnostic features.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimensional representation by creating an elevation map that shows the inner boundary's position relative to a fitted smooth surface. This transforms the problem from a single-dimensional thickness measurement into a multi-dimensional analysis, where the elevation map provides additional spatial information about local variations and diseased features that are not visible in the simple thickness map.
2Loss of information
If a topographic map of the tissue boundary is created to reveal disease features, then the overall shape of the tissue boundary is included, making it difficult to separate disease effects from normal tissue shape
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the disease-related features by creating an elevation map that represents only the deviations from the fitted smooth surface. By taking out the overall shape component (represented by the fitted surface) and separating it from the local variations (represented by the elevation map), the method isolates the diagnostically meaningful disease features from the normal tissue geometry, reducing interpretation complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of analyzing the absolute position of the inner boundary as done in traditional topographic maps, the patent inverts the approach by analyzing the relative position of the inner boundary with respect to a fitted smooth surface. This inversion transforms the problem from detecting absolute shape variations to detecting relative deviations, which directly highlight disease features while eliminating the confounding effect of normal tissue shape.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention discloses a method for generating elevation maps or images of a tissue layer/boundary with respect to a fitted reference surface, comprising the steps of finding and segmenting a desired tissue layer/boundary; fitting a smooth reference surface to the segmented tissue layer/boundary; calculating elevations of the same or other tissue layer/boundary relative to the fitted reference surface; and generating maps of elevation relative to the fitted surface. The elevation can be displayed in various ways including three-dimensional surface renderings, topographical contour maps, contour maps, en-face color maps, and en-face grayscale maps. The elevation can also be combined and simultaneously displayed with another tissue layer/boundary dependent set of image data to provide additional information for diagnostics.