Methods and systems for automatically determining magnetic field inversion time of a tissue species

US9734573B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• The United States of America as Represented by the Secretary, Dept. of Health and Human Services · US
• Siemens Healthcare Limited · DE

Inventors

• Bruce S. Spottiswoode · Knoxville, US
• Xiaoguang Lu · Plainsboro, US
• Xiaoming Bi · Oak Park, US
• Hui Xue · Hunan, CN
• Christopher Glielmi · Chicago, US
• Peter Kellman · Bethesda, US
• Andreas Greiser · Erlangen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 4, 2014
• Grant date: Aug 15, 2017
• Expiry date: Mar 31, 2035

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06T2207/30048
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for determining magnetic field inversion time of a tissue species includes generating a T1-mapping image of a tissue of interest, the T1-mapping image comprising a plurality of T1 values within an expected range of T1 values for the tissue of interest. An image mask is created based on predetermined identification information about the tissue of interest. Next, an updated image mask is created based on a largest connected region in the image mask. The updated image mask is applied to the T1-mapping image to yield a masked image. Then, a mean relaxation time value is determined for the largest connected region. The mean relaxation time value is then used to determine a time point for nulling longitudinal magnetization.