The technology relates to a methods and systems for improving medical imaging procedures. An example method includes receiving a first set of quality metrics for a plurality of medical images acquired at a first imaging facility; receiving a second set of quality metrics for a second plurality of medical images acquired at a second imaging facility; comparing the first set of quality metrics to the second set of quality metrics; based on the comparison of the first set of quality metrics to the second set of quality metrics, generating a benchmark for at least one metric in the first set of quality metrics and the second set of quality metrics; generating facility data based on the generated benchmark and the first set of quality metrics; and sending the facility data to the first imaging facility.

The invention provides for a medical instrument (100, 400) comprising a medical imaging system (102, 402) configured for acquiring medical imaging data (432) from a subject (108); a subject support (110) configured for supporting the subject during acquisition of the medical imaging data; and an optical imaging system (114, 114′) configured for acquiring optical imaging data (134) of the subject on the subject support. The execution of the machine executable instructions causes a processor (122) controlling the medical instrument to: control (200) the optical imaging system to acquire the optical imaging data; generate (202) the initial vector (136) using the optical imaging data; generate (204) the synthetic image by inputting the initial vector into a generator neural network; calculate (206) a difference (140) between the synthetic image and the optical imaging data; and provide (208) a warning signal (142) if the difference differs by a predetermined threshold. The generator neural network is trained to generate a synthetic image (138) of the subject on the subject support in response to inputting an initial vector.

A medical or dental imaging system for generating an image of a part of the head, comprising: an x-ray source and an x-ray detector which move around the head to generate x-ray images at different positions, a tracking device which provides sensor data indicative of any movement of the head during the acquisition of the x-ray images and a computer which generates tracking data based on the sensor data and calculates an x-ray image of the head part based on the x-ray images and on the tracking data to compensate for any movement of the head part during the acquisition of the x-ray images, wherein the tracking device comprises at least one camera and an attachment device for detachable attachment of the camera to the patient.

The invention provides for a medical instrument (100, 400) comprising a medical imaging system (102, 402) configured for acquiring medical imaging data (432) from a subject (108); a subject support (110) configured for supporting the subject during acquisition of the medical imaging data; and an optical imaging system (114, 114′) configured for acquiring optical imaging data (134) of the subject on the subject support. The execution of the machine executable instructions causes a processor (122) controlling the medical instrument to: control (200) the optical imaging system to acquire the optical imaging data; generate (202) the initial vector (136) using the optical imaging data; generate (204) the synthetic image by inputting the initial vector into a generator neural network; calculate (206) a difference (140) between the synthetic image and the optical imaging data; and provide (208) a warning signal (142) if the difference differs by a predetermined threshold. The generator neural network is trained to generate a synthetic image (138) of the subject on the subject support in response to inputting an initial vector.

An imaging method includes obtaining projection data for a helical scan of a subject. The method further includes reconstructing, for a particular time and image slice location of interest, a first temporal motion state image at an earlier time on the detector array and offset from the central row in a first direction with projection data from a first to subset of detector rows, and reconstructing, for the particular time and image slice location, a second temporal motion state image at a later time on the detector array and offset from the central row in a second direction with projection data from a second different subset of detector rows. The method further includes estimating a distortion vector field between the first and second temporal motion state images, and constructing motion compensated volu-metric image data with a motion compensated reconstruction algorithm using the distortion vector field to compensate for arbitrary motion.

A radiographic imaging apparatus acquires a plurality of two-dimensional pickup images taken at different angles and a three-dimensional image of a processing target imaged in advance. Two-dimensional calculated projection images are generated from the three-dimensional image, respectively, in association with the two-dimensional pickup images. A characteristic region indicates a treatment instrument represented in the two-dimensional pickup image. The two-dimensional pickup image is aligned with the calculated projection image. A deformation amount of the processing target in the two-dimensional pickup image is calculated by comparing the two-dimensional pickup image with the calculated projection image, and a position of the characteristic region is corrected. A three-dimensional position of the characteristic region is calculated and corrected on the basis of anatomical structure information of the processing target. A position mapping part then superimposes the corrected three-dimensional position of the characteristic region on the three-dimensional image to be displayed on a display unit.

The invention provides for a medical instrument (100, 300, 400, 500, 600) comprising a camera system (102, 102′, 102″) for imaging a portion (418) of a subject (108) reposing on a subject support (106). The medical instrument further comprises a display system (104) for rendering a position feedback indicator (130, 900). The display system is configured such that the position feedback indicator is visible to the subject when the subject is reposing on the subject support. The execution of the machine executable instructions (120) causes a processor (114) controlling the medical instrument to: acquire (200) a base position image (122) using the camera system; repeatedly (202) acquire a subsequent image (124) using the camera system; repeatedly (204) calculate an image transformation (126) from voxels of at least a portion of the base position image to voxels of the subsequent image by inputting the base position image and the subsequent image into an image transformation algorithm (128); and repeatedly (206) render a position feedback indicator (130, 900) on the display, wherein the position feedback indicator is controlled by the image transformation.

A detection apparatus and a method are provided for detecting a respiratory movement of a patient. The detection apparatus includes at least two metallic U-shaped signal coupling elements that are interleaved so that between the signal coupling elements arises at least one coupling point at which a signal may be transferred between the two signal coupling elements. Analysis electronics are configured to detect a change in a received signal produced in a second of the signal coupling elements that is acting as a receiver in the near-field region of the first signal coupling elements as a result of a signal given for one of the signal coupling elements that is acting as a transmitter being coupled into the second of the signal coupling elements, which change indicates the respiratory movement.

An apparatus for displaying a moving region of interest located within a body includes a positioning system to determine a position and orientation (P&O) of a medical device as well as to track, using an internal position reference sensor, the motion of the region of interest over time. A compensation function block generates a motion compensation function based on the motion of the region of interest, which is configured to compensate for the motion of the region of interest between a first time, for example a time at which an image was acquired and a second time, for example a time at which a P&O of the device was measured. The measured P&O is corrected using the compensation function. A representation of the medical device is superimposed on the image in accordance with the corrected P&O.

Communication systems are described that use signal constellations, which have unequally spaced (i.e. ‘geometrically’ shaped) points. In many embodiments, the communication systems use specific geometric constellations that are capacity optimized at a specific SNR. In addition, ranges within which the constellation points of a capacity optimized constellation can be perturbed and are still likely to achieve a given percentage of the optimal capacity increase compared to a constellation that maximizes d.sub.min, are also described. Capacity measures that are used in the selection of the location of constellation points include, but are not limited to, parallel decode (PD) capacity and joint capacity.