In the present invention, a system and method for selection of an optimal catheter for use in a medical procedure relative to the anatomy of a patient includes the steps of providing a system including a scanning device capable of obtaining image data on a ROI within the anatomy of a patient and reconstructing a 3D image of the ROI from the image data, a display capable of illustrating the 3D image and a 3D catheter model, and a CPU operably connected to the scanning device and the display and operable to analyze the 3D image in comparison with the 3D catheter model, obtaining image data of the ROI of the patient, reconstructing a 3D image of the ROI from the image data and comparing the 3D catheter model with the 3D image of the ROI to determine the catheter with the optimal configuration for use in the procedure.

A method for evaluating image quality is provided. The method may include: obtaining an image, the image including a plurality of elements, each element of the plurality of elements being a pixel or voxel, each element having a gray level; determining, based on a maximum gray level of the plurality of elements, one or more thresholds for segmenting the image; determining one or more sub-images of a region of interest by segmenting, based on the one or more thresholds, the image; and determining, based on the one or more sub-images of the region of interest, a quality index for the image.

The present invention relates to a system (1) for adaptive segmentation. The system (1) comprises a configurator (10), which is configured to determine an adapted angular range (AR) with respect to an operation mode of the system (1) and which is configured to determine a segmentation parameter (SP) based on the adapted angular range (AR). Further, the system comprises an imaging sensor (20), which is configured to acquire images (I.sub.1, . . . , I.sub.N) within the adapted angular range (AR). Still further, the system comprises a segmentator (30), which is configured to generate a segmentation model based on the acquired images (I.sub.1, . . . , I.sub.N) using the determined segmentation parameter (SP).

A radiation image processing system, including: an image analysis section which performs image analysis to a plurality of frame images that is obtained by moving image imaging of a target site having periodicity in a movement or frame images that are obtained after image processing based on the frame images obtained by the moving image imaging and which determines a period of the movement; and a reproduction range setting section which sets a range of frame images to be reproduced and displayed among the frame images based on an analysis result of the period determined by the image analysis section.

A transmitting element for generating a magnetic field for tracking of an object includes a first spiral trace that extends from a first outer origin inward to a central origin in a first direction. A second spiral trace can extend from the central origin outward to a second outer origin in the first direction. The second spiral trace can extend from the central origin to the second outer origin in the first direction. The first spiral trace and the second spiral trace can be physically connected at the central origin to form the fluorolucent magnetic transmitting element and at least a portion of the first spiral trace overlaps at least a portion of the second spiral trace.

Systems are provided for generating data representing electromagnetic states of a heart for medical, scientific, research, and/or engineering purposes. The systems generate the data based on source configurations such as dimensions of, and scar or fibrosis or pro-arrhythmic substrate location within, a heart and a computational model of the electromagnetic output of the heart. The systems may dynamically generate the source configurations to provide representative source configurations that may be found in a population. For each source configuration of the electromagnetic source, the systems run a simulation of the functioning of the heart to generate modeled electromagnetic output (e.g., an electromagnetic mesh for each simulation step with a voltage at each point of the electromagnetic mesh) for that source configuration. The systems may generate a cardiogram for each source configuration from the modeled electromagnetic output of that source configuration for use in predicting the source location of an arrhythmia.

Provided is a novel technique for quantitatively evaluating tracer accumulation for nuclear medicine examinations of the heart. In a preferred embodiment, the radiation count information obtained by myocardial nuclear medicine measurement is normalized using a value relating to the size of the heart. In a preferred embodiment, the pixel value of each pixel of myocardial nuclear medicine image data is converted into standardized uptake values (SUV) capable of being represented by [SUV=Tissue radioactivity concentration/(Administered radiation dose/Value relating to size of heart)]. The value relating to the size of the heart may be a myocardial weight, for example.

A method for estimating parameter values includes acquiring image data with an imaging apparatus, deriving a parameter model function from the image data, generating a N-dimensional grid, wherein N is a number of values of one or more non-linear terms of the derived model function, pre-calculating the one or more non-linear terms given the parameter model function and the designated values of the non-linear parameters, calculating one or more remaining model terms of the parameter model function, and displaying at least one of the one or more non-linear terms and remaining linear model terms.

Systems and methods are disclosed for predicting coronary plaque vulnerability, using a computer system. One method includes acquiring anatomical image data of at least part the patient's vascular system; performing, using a processor, one or more image characteristics analysis, geometrical analysis, computational fluid dynamics analysis, and structural mechanics analysis on the anatomical image data; predicting, using the processor, a coronary plaque vulnerability present in the patient's vascular system, wherein predicting the coronary plaque vulnerability includes calculating an adverse plaque characteristic based on results of the one or more of image characteristics analysis, geometrical analysis, computational fluid dynamics analysis, and structural mechanics analysis of the anatomical image data; and reporting, using the processor, the calculated adverse plaque characteristic.

According to an X-ray CT apparatus and a scanning method of the present invention, in order to efficiently create an image used for diagnosis, an operator selects a desired part from a part selection GUI before main scanning by using an ROI object imitating a shape of each part, held in a storage device, and thus the ROI object can be disposed on a scanogram image, in which setting information corresponding to a part is set for the ROI object in advance, a region of interest associated with the part is set, main scanning is performed under conditions associated with the set region of interest, and an image is reconstructed on the basis of X-ray information obtained through the main scanning.