During catheter-based angiography, the bone and soft tissues degrade visualization of the vasculature, which is of primary interest in such medical imaging procedures. The present disclosure includes systems and methods utilizing a trained neural network to remove the bone and soft tissue densities from post-contrast images, revealing isolated vascular densities, without the need for a standard pre-injection digital mask and in the setting of patient motion. The final angiographic images may be created in real-time. Systems and methods for the training and optimization of the disclosed neural network are also described.

A method for processing angiography image data by using an imaging catheter path that is directly detected from the angiography data as a co-registration path or using detected marker locations from the angiography data to generate a co-registration path. If the acquired angiography data includes synchronized cardiac phase signals and a predetermined quantity of angiography image frames not including contrast media, then a directly detected imaging catheter path is used as the co-registration path. Otherwise the co-registration path is determined based upon detected marker locations from the angiography image data.

An x-ray imaging apparatus and associated methods are provided to receive measured projection data in a primary region and measured scatter data in asymmetrical shadow regions and determine an estimated scatter in the primary region based on the measured scatter data in the shadow region(s). The asymmetric shadow regions can be controlled by adjusting the position of the beam aperture center on the readout area of the detector. Penumbra data may also be used to estimate scatter in the primary region.

A method and apparatus for vascular assessment are disclosed. The apparatus, in some embodiments, receives a plurality of 2-D angiographic images of a portion of a vasculature of a subject, and processes the images to produce a stenotic model over the vasculature. The stenotic model has measurements of the vasculature at one or more locations along vessels of the vasculature. The apparatus, in some embodiments, determines a flow characteristic of the stenotic model and calculates an index indicative of vascular function, based, at least in part, on the flow characteristic in the stenotic model.

A computer-implemented method for autonomous segmentation of contrast-filled coronary artery vessels includes receiving a CT scan volume representing a 3D volume of a region of anatomy that includes a pericardium; preprocessing the CT scan volume to output a preprocessed scan volume; converting the CT scan volume to three sets of two-dimensional slices; extracting a region of interest (ROI) by autonomous segmentation of the heart region as outlined by the pericardium, by means of three individually trained ROI extraction convolutional neural networks (CNN), each trained to process a particular one of the three sets of two-dimensional slices to output a mask denoting a heart region as delineated by the pericardium; combining the preprocessed scan volume with the mask to obtain a masked volume; converting the masked volume to three groups of sets of two-dimensional masked slices; and performing autonomous coronary vessel segmentation to output a mask denoting the coronary vessels.

Methods and systems for characterizing tissue of a subject are disclosed. The method includes retrieving a time series of angiography images of tissue of a subject, defining a plurality of calculation regions, generating a time-intensity curve for each respective calculation region, calculating a rank value for each respective calculation region based on one or more parameters derived from the time-intensity curve; and generating a viewable image in which on the image position of each calculation region an indication is provided of the calculated rank value for that calculation region. Also disclosed are methods and systems for generating first and second time-intensity curves for respective first and second calculation regions, calculating first and second rank values for the respective calculation regions based on first and second pluralities of parameters selected to approximate the respective time-intensity curves, and generating a spatial map of the first and second calculated rank values.

The present invention relates to production of 2D digital images suitable for use in medical imaging. The invention particularly relates to remapping X-ray images taken from a first viewpoint so that they present the same image as seen from a second viewpoint. Remapping is achieved by registering separate 2D images taken from the first and second viewpoints of an area with a 3D scan volume of the same region to ascertain their relative viewpoints with respect to the 3D scan volume. The image taken with respect to the first viewpoint is then remapped to yield the image as seen from the second viewpoint.

Methods and systems are provided for adaptive scan control. In one embodiment, a method includes, upon an injection of a contrast agent, performing a plurality of perfusion acquisitions of a first anatomical region of interest (ROI) of a subject with the imaging system, processing projection data of the first anatomical ROI obtained from the plurality of perfusion acquisitions to measure a contrast signal of the contrast agent, performing a plurality of angiography acquisitions, each angiography acquisition performed at a respective time determined based on the contrast signal, and performing one or more additional perfusion acquisitions between each angiography acquisition.

A multimodal imaging apparatus, comprising a rotatable gantry system positioned at least partially around a patient support, a first source of radiation coupled to the rotatable gantry system, the first source of radiation configured for imaging radiation, a second source of radiation coupled to the rotatable gantry system, the second source of radiation configured for at least one of imaging radiation or therapeutic radiation, wherein the second source of radiation has an energy level more than the first source of radiation, and a second radiation detector coupled to the rotatable gantry system and positioned to receive radiation from the second source of radiation, and a processor configured to combine first measured projection data based on the radiation detected by the first detector with second measured projection data based on the radiation detected by the second detector, and reconstruct an image based on the combined data, wherein the reconstructing comprises at least one of correcting the second measured projection data using the first measured projection data, correcting the first measured projection data using the second projection data, and distinguishing different materials imaged in the combined data using the first measured projection data and the second measured projection.

A method and apparatus for vascular assessment are disclosed. The apparatus, in some embodiments, receives, from a medical imaging device, a medical image of a coronary vessel tree of a subject and calculates a plurality of geometric measurements associated with individual portions of a vascular segment of the coronary vessel tree. The apparatus also determines a plurality of resistances associated with the plurality of geometric measurements associated with the individual portions of the vascular segment and determines a plurality of pressure drops across the individual portions of the vascular segment based on the determined resistances and a calculated or estimated blood flow. The apparatus further calculates based on the plurality of pressure drops, a functional index indicative of a presence or an absence of a stenosis within the vascular segment.