Image analysis – Applications – Biomedical applications
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-09
2001-05-22
Bella, Matthew C. (Department: 2621)
Image analysis
Applications
Biomedical applications
C382S128000, C382S130000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06236742
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the early detection and discovery of malignancy or neoplazic formations in the bodies of humans and animals, and more specifically to a method for superimposing separate digital Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or Computer Aided Tomograph (CAT) scans recorded at different times to detect variations indicative of malignant growth.
In general, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computer Aided Tomographs (CAT), and radiographs provide medical specialists with high resolution digital images representative of the so internal structures and tissues of both human and animal patients. Such images allow for the examination of the internal structures and tissues without the need for exploratory surgery, greatly benefiting the patient. As powerful tools for detecting cancer, the MRI, CAT, and radiograph images may be visually examined by specialists trained to observe the signs of malignant or abnormal tissue growth. Such visual examination of the images is, however, restricted to locating malignancies or growths which have already obtained a minimum size sufficiently large to be observed visually. This minimum size for visual observation is significantly larger than the highest degree of resolution provided by the images, and is representative of malignancies which have been present in the patient for a significant period of time. Accordingly, patients would greatly benefit from a detection scheme capable of observing and locating malignancies and tumors at an earlier stage of growth, thereby improving the chances for a full and rapid recovery.
One possible way to detect such malignancies and tumors prior to their becoming visible to the human eye on the MRI, CAT and radiographs would be to compare current images of the patient with previous images, and observe any tissue changes. However, previously it has not been possible to provide for direct computer comparison of such images due to the problems presented by superimposing the images. To compare two digital images, a computer must be capable of superimposing one image over the other with a high degree of accuracy. If such a superposition is successful, areas within the images which have changes will be easily detectable. If the superposition is not done with a high degree of accuracy, the computer will observe that the entire image appears to have changed, and any useful information will be lost. Images produced by MRI, CAT, and radiograph scans present further complications for comparison in that the position of the patient may have changed from one image to another, the patient may have grown or shrunk, or may contain different foods within the intestinal tract. Accordingly, images taken at 1 year intervals prior to my invention will never have enough similarity to allow for existing computer comparison methods to be effective.
The coherent superscan early cancer detection method of the present invention overcomes the problems associated with the differences in patient position, size, and internal structures between images usually preventing digital image comparison, by digitally altering one of the images in such a way as to permit computer comparison and detection of malignant growth much sooner than current visual observation allows.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The several objects and advantages of the present invention include:
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection employing full-body digital images recorded through Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI);
The provision of new and improved method of early cancer detection employing full-body digital images recorded through Computer Aided Tomography (CAT);
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection employing digital images recorded by radiography;
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection which superimposes a first recorded digital image of a patient and a second, subsequently recorded and altered patient digital image, identifying malignant growths;
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection which highlights potential malignancies in digitally recorded and compared images;
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection which is capable of detecting malignant growths or neoplazic formations in patients prior to such growths or formations becoming visible by visual inspection of recorded images;
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection which determines a vector displacement field representative of the change between images to be superimposed; and
The provision of a new and improved method of early cancer detection which determines the divergence of a vector displacement field, the divergence representative of tissue displacement caused by potentially malignant growths.
Briefly stated, the new and improved method of early cancer detection of the present invention is primarily intended to facilitate the detection of malignant or neoplazic formations in the bodies of human and animal patients. First, digital images of a patient are obtained using an MRI, CAT or radiography imaging system. Typically, these images are taken over a period of several months or a year, allowing for some growth in a potential malignancy to take place. Once obtained, one image of a comparison pair is digitally translated and rotated in three dimensions until the mean quadratic error between the images is minimized in four or five dimensions, where the fourth and fifth dimensions represent the amplitude and phase (or relaxation time) information obtained for each image pixel through MRI. In the case of radiographs, only intensity information is obtained in addition to the spatial dimensions, so the error is only minimized in four dimensions.
Next, an arbitrary continuous lowpass vector field of displacements in three-dimensional space is digitally applied to the altered image, shifting each image point and further reducing the calculated quadratic error resulting from large image features. Large image features are typically produced by the different positions in which the patient is presented from one image to the next, or by slight variations in the depth or vertical position of the recorded MRI or CAT scan planes. Once the lowpass vector field resulting in minimized quadratic error is determined, an arbitrary highpass vector field is then subtracted from the result, further minimizing the quadratic error with respect to small features of the image and providing a final vector field of displacements for the altered image. In both cases, the optimization can be done in Fourier space on the amplitude and phase of the Fourier coefficients.
By digitally determining the divergence of the resulting high-pass vector field, and by color-coding the regions of positive and negative values accordingly, areas where tissue has been displaced by new growth during the interval between the first and second image are shown and highlighted by color and flashing. These regions may then be magnified and examined by trained medical personal to determine if they are false alarms caused by ingested material or potentially malignant growths.
The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention as well as presently the preferred method thereof will become more apparent from the reading of the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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Bella Matthew C.
Choobin M.
Polster Lieder Woodruff & Lucchesi LC
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