The invention relates to an examination apparatus and a method for the study of dynamic processes in a body volume, particularly of perfusion, as well as a record carrier with software for the execution of said method.
The study of perfusion processes in the body volume of a patient is necessary for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. Such perfusion studies typically involve the injection of a bolus of a contrast agent via a catheter or intravenously and the generation of a sequence of X-ray projections that show the spreading of said bolus in the vessel system and the surrounding tissue. In complex vessel trees like the cerebral vessel tree, it may however be difficult to judge the observed process based on two-dimensional projections acquired in the angio-suite. This is especially true for brain perfusion, where three-dimensional tomographic images of excellent contrast resolution are required for a careful diagnosis.
Therefore, it was an object of the present invention to provide means for a more versatile study of dynamic processes, particularly of perfusion in a complex vessel system and the surrounding tissue.
This object is achieved by an examination apparatus according to claim 1, by a method according to claim 9, and by a record carrier according to claim 10. Preferred embodiments are disclosed in the dependent claims.
The examination apparatus according to the present invention may be used for the study of dynamic processes in a body volume. A very important (but not limiting) example that will be in the focus of the following description is the study of perfusion in the vessel system of a patient. The examination apparatus comprises an X-ray device with an X-ray source and an X-ray detector that can be moved relative to an object and a data processing system (computer) that is coupled to the X-ray device in order to control it and to evaluate the generated image data. The examination apparatus is adapted to execute the following steps:
The examination apparatus allows the study of dynamic processes like perfusion in complex spatial environments, for example the brain of a patient, because the process is visualized in three-dimensional images. The reconstruction of such 3D images is possible due to the application of trajectories for the X-ray device which allow a continuous movement of the device and the acquisition of enough different projections for three-dimensional (exact) reconstruction methods. Moreover, the evaluation of the series of projections in overlapping temporal windows provides the high temporal resolution which is needed for the observation of the underlying processes and which makes optimal use of the available data. The evaluation of a series of images of a dynamic process in overlapping temporal windows is known as “sliding window approach” from the literature (d'Arcy J A; Collins D J; Rowland I J; Padhani A R; Leach M O: “Applications of sliding window reconstruction with Cartesian sampling for dynamic contrast enhanced MRI”, NMR in Biomedicine, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 174-183, April 2002).
The examination apparatus may further comprise an injection device for the controlled injection of a contrast agent into the vessel system of patient. The injection device may be adapted to be manually controlled by the medical staff. Alternatively, said injection device may be coupled to and controlled by the data processing system. The use of controlled injections makes the examination apparatus suited for perfusion studies in a patient.
The X-ray device preferably comprises an X-ray source and a detector that are rigidly coupled to each other, for example via a C-arm, and that can be moved commonly on the surface of a sphere or a part of such a surface. In this case projections of a body volume located at the centre of said sphere can be produced from different directions, thus providing the necessary data for exact three-dimensional reconstruction methods.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the trajectory is closed. In this case the X-ray device can repeatedly move along the trajectory while generating projections from identical or similar directions at different times.
The trajectory may be planar, for example an arc along which the X-ray device sweeps continuously back and forth. The trajectory may also be non-planar and preferably of a form that allows the application of exact reconstruction algorithms. A non-planar trajectory may particularly be produced by the superposition of oscillations in azimuthal and polar directions.
Each subset of projections that belong to a certain temporal window and that are used for the reconstruction of a 3D image is preferably just so large that the application of an exact reconstruction method is possible. Then 3D images with high contrast and accuracy can be achieved, while the restriction to a minimal subset of this kind guarantees are good correlation of the 3D image with the situation in the time point that corresponds to the temporal window.
While exact reconstruction methods for the generation of the 3D images are preferred due to their higher accuracy, approximation methods may of course be used, too. Moreover, the reconstruction of the 3D images may be achieved by direct inversion methods or by iterative reconstruction methods which are known to a person skilled in the art.
The projections within a subset or temporal window that are used for the reconstruction of a certain 3D image originate from different time points and therefore represent the observed body volume in different states of the dynamic process. If the temporal window is small compared with the time scale of the dynamic process, the changes of the process during the temporal window may be neglected and the 3D image that is reconstructed from the temporal window may be associated with a certain reference time point, for example the midpoint of the temporal window. According to a further development of the invention, the projections of a subset are applied in the reconstruction method with a weighting factor that corresponds to their temporal distance to said reference time point. Projections that are temporally close to the reference time point are then given a higher weight in the reconstruction than projections far away from said reference time point, because the latter may show the dynamic process in a state that has changed significantly with respect to the reference time point.
The reconstruction method for the 3D images may make use of redundancy compensation functions. In this case the difference of such a redundancy compensation function for two trajectory sections that belong to consecutive subsets is preferably used to update the corresponding 3D images.
The invention further comprises a method for the study of dynamic processes in a body volume, which comprises the following steps:
The method comprises in general form the steps that can be executed with an examination apparatus of the kind described above. Therefore, reference is made to the preceding description for more information on the details, advantages and improvements of that method.
Furthermore, the invention comprises a record carrier, for example a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a compact disc (CD), on which a computer program for the study of dynamic processes in a body volume is stored, said program being adapted to execute the aforementioned method.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.
In the following the invention is described by way of example with the help of the accompanying drawings in which:
Other examples of suited closed, non-planar trajectories may be found in the article “Complete Source Trajectories for C-Arm Systems and a Method for Coping with Truncated Cone-Beam Projections” (H. Schomberg in: 3D-2001—The Sixth International Meeting on Fully Three-Dimensional Image Reconstruction in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, pp. 221-224), which is incorporated into the present application by reference.
Moreover,
In order to study a dynamic process like perfusion in the vessel system of the patient 1, the described examination apparatus will be used in a way which leads to 3D volume information of adequate temporal resolution by utilizing exact reconstruction methods for planar or non-planar source orbits combined with sliding window reconstruction principles. It is suggested to use a closed, non-planar acquisition trajectory T like that in
The full series of generated projections covering the trajectory T for multiple times is marked by Λ in
To each subset Λi of the series Λ an exact reconstruction method is applied, for example the method described by Defrise and Clack (M. Defrise, R. Clack: “A cone-beam reconstruction algorithm using shift-invariant filtering and cone-beam back projection”, IEEE Trans. Med. Imag., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 186-195, March 1994), taking the redundancy of the 3D Radon data into account in a correct manner. If for example the trajectory of the X-ray source is parameterized by a parameter λ, each source position for projection acquisition can be described by a vector ζ (λ). A Radon plane measured from such a source position is then characterized by its normal vector ξ, i.e. all vectors x lying in that plane fulfill (x−ζ(λ))·ξ=0. With ρ=ζ(λ)·ξ, a Radon value is generated at R f(ρξ, λ), wherein R f is the Radon transform of a function f. One Radon value can be generated by more than one source position λ. Since exact reconstruction requires complete sampling of the Radon space and correct handling of the redundancies, a redundancy compensation function is introduced into the back projection formula according to
where ni(ξ, λ) means that a specific Radon value can be delivered several times by a set of projections Λi. For practical reasons allowing discrete implementation a differentiable and normalized version of Mi(ξ, λ) is used in the back projection expression.
From the complete series Λ of available projections (multiple covered trajectory) the subset Λi (centered at a reference time point ti) which enables exact reconstruction of the volume of interest can now be selected by an appropriate redundancy compensation function Mi(ξ, λ). For optimal computational performance, the difference of the redundancy compensation function of two trajectory intervals may be used to update the reconstructed volume originating from the trajectory part Λi+1 with respect to the volume result from Λi. Using this acquisition approach, the exact reconstruction of the same volume at multiple time steps ti with a temporal resolution Δti is feasible.
Any other suitable exact or approximate reconstruction method may also be used, which is capable to process projection data acquired along non-planar orbits and to deliver excellent contrast resolution. Apart from direct inversion schemes, also iterative reconstruction methods may be applied.
Temporal resolution can be improved using varying temporal gating functions that weight projections near the reference time point ti higher than those that are further away. The result of this sliding window 3D reconstruction can be used as input for 3D perfusion analysis of a target structure.
Finally it is pointed out that in the present application the term “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, that “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality, and that a single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several means. Moreover, reference signs in the claims shall not be construed as limiting their scope.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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04300401 | Jun 2004 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB2005/052095 | 6/24/2005 | WO | 00 | 12/18/2006 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2006/003578 | 1/12/2006 | WO | A |
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