Patent Application
20080298652
The disclosure relates to cardiac analysis. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a method and system for previewing image frames that precede or follow an automatically selected candidate image frame showing a desired phase of a cardiac cycle including but not limited to end of diastole and end of systole.
The heart contracts and relaxes with each heartbeat or cardiac cycle. During the contraction phase (systole), the heart ejects blood from two pumping chambers called ventricles. During the relaxation phase (diastole), the ventricles of the heart refill with blood.
Not all of the blood is emptied from the ventricles of the heart during the contraction or systole phases. End of systole (ES) refers to the volume of blood remaining in the ventricles immediately after systole and before the beginning of ventricular relaxation or diastole whereas ejection fraction refers to the percentage of blood which is pumped out of a filled ventricle during systole. End of diastole (ED) refers to the volume of blood remaining in the ventricles at the end of filling, i.e., when the ventricles refill with blood.
Some cardiac procedures involve a Left Ventricle Analysis (LVA) to analyze the ejection fraction, ED volume, ES volume, and other operating parameters of the heart. The analysis focuses on the left ventricle because it is the heart's main pumping element.
LVA may be performed on a medical imaging system running an LVA application that enables the system to automatically select candidate ED or ES image frames from an angiography series (which typically comprise x-ray image frames of the left ventricle of the heart after the addition of a radiocontrast agent to the blood) and displays them to the user (e.g. cardiologist) for LVA. The cardiologist must view the automatically selected ED and ES image frame candidates and decide whether these image frames are appropriate for LVA.
Current imaging systems are only capable of displaying one image frame at a time on a system monitor or display. Thus, when viewing the automatically selected candidate ED and ES image frames, the cardiologist must use a single step forward or backward button to step through image frames in the image area one at a time, to determine whether to accept the automatically selected candidate ED and ES image frames or to manually pick different ED and/or ES image frames if the automatically selected candidate ED and/or ES image frames are not appropriate for LVA. This process is manual and time-consuming.
Accordingly, there is need for a method and system that reduces the time required to preview image frames, which precede or follow the automatically selected candidate end of diastole and end of systole image frames.
A method is disclosed for viewing a series of medical image frames. The method comprises the steps of: displaying a candidate medical image frame selected from the series of medical image frames, in a first portion of a display screen of a user interface; displaying, in a second portion of the display screen of the user interface, a first alternate candidate medical image frame of the series of medical image frames which precedes or follows the candidate medical image frame in the series of medical image frames; and displaying the first alternate candidate medical image frame in the first portion of the display screen when the first alternate candidate medical image frame displayed in the second portion of the display screen is selected, via the user interface, for display on the first portion of the display screen.
Also disclosed is a system for viewing a series of medical image frames. The system comprises: a user interface comprising a display screen for displaying medical image frames; a processor in communication with the user interface, the processor executing instructions for: displaying a candidate medical image frame selected from the series of medical image frames, in a first portion of the display screen; displaying, in a second portion of the display screen, a first alternate candidate medical image frame of the series of medical image frames which precedes or follows the candidate medical image frame in the series of medical image frames; and displaying the first alternate candidate medical image frame in the first portion of the display screen when the first alternate candidate medical image frame displayed in the second portion of the display screen is selected, via the user interface, for display on the first portion of the display screen.
Further disclosed is a system for viewing a series of medical image frames. The system comprises: means for displaying a candidate medical image frame selected from the series of medical image frames, in a first portion of a display screen of a user interface; means for displaying, in a second portion of the display screen, a first alternate candidate medical image frame of the series of medical image frames which precedes or follows the candidate medical image frame in the series of medical image frames; and means for displaying the first alternate candidate medical image frame in the first portion of the display screen when the first alternate candidate medical image frame displayed in the second portion of the display screen is selected, via the user interface, for display on the first portion of the display screen.
Still further disclosed is a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which when executed by a computer system cause the system to perform a method for viewing a series of medical image frames. The method comprises steps of: displaying a candidate medical image frame selected from the series of medical image frames, in a first portion of a display screen of a user interface; displaying, in a second portion of the display screen, a first alternate candidate medical image frame of the series of medical image frames which precedes or follows the candidate medical image frame in the series of medical image frames; and displaying the first alternate candidate medical image frame in the first portion of the display screen when the first alternate candidate medical image frame displayed in the second portion of the display screen is selected, via the user interface, for display on the first portion of the display screen.
A method and a system are described herein for previewing medical image frames that precede or follow a selected candidate image frame showing a desired phase of a cardiac cycle. In one embodiment, the phase of the cardiac cycle is end of diastole ED. In another embodiment, the phase of the cardiac cycle is end of systole (ES). In one embodiment, the medical image frames comprise x-ray image frames of a cardiac angiography series. In another embodiment, the medical image frames comprise magnetic resonance image frames of a cardiac angiography series.
Typically, the displayed candidate image frames CIF have previously been automatically selected by the system. In one embodiment, the candidate image frames CIF may be automatically selected as described in U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/848,505, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING END OF DIASTOLE AND END OF SYSTOLE FRAMES, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/916,329 filed on May 7, 2007. The entire disclosure of this Non-Provisional patent application is incorporated herein by reference.
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The context strip CS displayed in the display screen 142 in one embodiment comprises a floating window, e.g., a window that may be positioned arbitrarily within the main image shown on the entire display screen or a portion of the display screen (the entire display screen or the portion thereof being the first portion of the display screen and the floating window being the second portion of the display screen in this embodiment) without a cooperately changing the size and shape of the main image. The context strip CS in a second embodiment comprises a docked window, e.g., a window positioned cooperatively with the main image shown on the display screen (as illustrated in
In one embodiment, a marker M may be displayed in or adjacent to the automatically selected candidate image frame CIF shown in the context strip CS, to identify that image frame as the automatically selected candidate image frame CIF.
A second user interface element may be provided to allow the user to step forward or backward from the currently displayed image frame (the candidate image frame or neighboring image frames PIF or SIF) within the series of angiography image frames. In embodiments where the context strip CS shows the candidate image frame CIF in the context of at least one previous image frame PIF and at least one successive image frame SIF (e.g.,
A third user interface element may be provided to allow the user to select the image frame currently displayed in the first portion 144 of the display screen 142 (the large format portion) as the most appropriate for a heart analysis further on. When the phase of interest comprises ED or ES image frames, the third user interface element allows the user to select the ED or ES image frame most appropriate for LVA or other heart analysis. The procedure for selecting the appropriate image frame will be repeated for both ED and ES image frames.
In step 40, the context strip CS is removed from the display screen 142 and the standard workflow for continuing the heart analysis, e.g., LVA may be continued.
As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the context strip CS enables the user to preview the preceding and/or succeeding frames of the selected image frame candidates, and thus, makes the process of selecting image frames for heart analysis, particularly, ED and ES frames, more efficient for cardiologists and other users.
The computer 201 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 202 in communication with a memory 203 and a program/data storage unit 204. The program/data storage unit 204 provides long-term storage of programs and data associated with the method described herein while the memory 203 provides temporary storage of programs and data associated with the method describe herein. The CPU 202 executes the programs (e.g., algorithms) associated with the method describe herein which are stored in the program/data storage unit 204 and memory 203.
The one or more user input devices 210, in one exemplary embodiment, includes a keyboard, mouse, microphone, and joystick, for generating digital user input data for controlling and operating the system. In other embodiments, the one or more user input devices 210 may include, the display screen of the monitor 140 (touch-screen), trackballs, pen lights and any other suitable user input device or combination of devices. The digital user input data generated by one or more user input devices 210 is supplied to the computer 201 via the user I/O interface 205. The display device 240 may be a conventional or unconventional monitor or display screen for displaying images and data. The user interface 140 described above may include without limitation the input devices 210 and the display device 240.
The hemodynamics sub-system 220 may include conventional and unconventional means for obtaining digital ECG and blood pressure data (aortic, ventricular and atrial pressure data) of the patient's heart. Such means may include invasive and/or non-invasive devices for obtaining digital ECG and blood pressure data of the patient's heart. The digital ECG and blood pressure data generated by the hemodynamics sub-system 220 is supplied to the computer 201 via the ECG data interface 206.
The digital x-ray sub-system 230 may include conventional and unconventional means for generating the angiography series comprising the plurality of digital x-ray images frames of the patients heart and digital x-ray image data corresponding to the angiography series. The digital x-ray image data generated by the x-ray sub-system 230 is supplied to the computer 201 via the x-ray signal interface 207.
The user I/O, ECG data, x-ray signal, display and network interfaces 205, 206, 207, 208, 209 may be conventional or unconventional in design and operation.
The computer 210 processes and analyzes the digital ECG, blood pressure and x-ray image data in accordance with the methods described in aforementioned Non-Provisional U.S. patent application to select best ED and ES x-ray image frame candidates. The selected ED and ES x-ray image frame candidates are displayed by the system on the display device 240 for acceptance or rejection by the user.
The network interface 209 allows data corresponding to the selected ED and ES x-ray image frames to be communicated to another computer, a database, and the like over a computer network including, without limitation, a wide area network or local-area network.
Although the foregoing disclosure is directed to exemplary embodiments, it is noted that other variations and modification will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/940,783 filed on May 30, 2007, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60940783 | May 2007 | US |
