Embodiments include a system for determining cardiovascular information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system configured to receive patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart, and create a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of the patient's heart based on the patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may be further configured to create a physics-based model relating to a blood flow characteristic of the patient's heart and determine a fractional flow reserve within the patient's heart based on the three-dimensional model and the physics-based model.

Methods and systems are provided for extracting cardiac frequency angiographic phenomena for an unconstrained vascular object from an angiographic study. In one example, a computer may obtain a series of angiographic image frames obtained at a rate faster than cardiac frequency. Each image frame may comprise a plurality of pixels, and each pixel may have a corresponding intensity. The computer may apply an optical flow technique to the angiographic image frames to generate a plurality of paths corresponding to a displacement of respective pixels from image frame to image frame. The computer may further generate a spatiotemporal reconstruction of cardiac frequency angiographic phenomena based on the plurality of paths and the corresponding intensities associated with respective pixels of the paths, and output for display the spatiotemporal reconstruction of cardiac frequency angiographic phenomena in one or more images.

A medical information processing apparatus according to an embodiment includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry obtains image data rendering a blood vessel of a patient. The processing circuitry performs a fluid analysis on the obtained image data and calculates an index value related to a blood flow in the blood vessel with respect to each of a plurality of positions in the blood vessel. With respect to the index values to be calculated, the processing circuitry selects a position in which a first value is to be obtained from among the plurality of positions or selects a value serving as the first value from among the index values exhibited in positions. The processing circuitry causes a display to display the first value in a predetermined display region thereof used for displaying the first value.

Medical imaging methods for processing a three-dimensional (3D) image data set with two-dimensional X-ray images from an X-ray machine using a target function. Methods can include providing a 3D image data set of at least one examination zone in which anatomical structures are present, segmenting the image data set to provide a 3D vascular structure model and a 3D bone structure model, recording a first two-dimensional (2D) X-ray image containing at least a portion of the vascular structure and at least a portion of the bone structure, recording a second 2D X-ray image of the examination zone at a different contrast agent concentration, and subtracting the first and second 2D X-ray images to generate a subtraction image. An optimum projective geometry may then be determined using a three-part target function based on the 3D image data and the 2D X-ray images.

A method for vascular assessment is disclosed. The method, in some embodiments, comprises receiving a plurality of 2-D angiographic images of a portion of a vasculature of a subject, and processing the images to produce a stenotic model over the vasculature, the stenotic model having measurements of the vasculature at one or more locations along vessels of the vasculature. The method, in some embodiments, further comprises obtaining a flow characteristic of the stenotic model, and calculating an index indicative of vascular function, based, at least in part, on the flow characteristic in the stenotic model.

A method of analysing data from an angiographic scan that provides three-dimensional information about blood vessels in a patient's brain, the method comprising the steps of: processing the data (26) to produce a three-dimensional image; extracting the system of blood vessels inside the skull, so as to obtain a vessel mask (28); skeletonising (30) the vessel mask with a thinning algorithm to produce a skeleton mask performing a central plane extraction; analysing (32) the skeleton mask to identify voxels that have more than two neighbours, indicating a fork, bifurcation or branch; detecting the most proximal location of each of the three main supplying arteries of the head in the skeleton mask to identify starting positions; and then starting from each starting position in turn, and walking along the line representing the corresponding blood vessel to detect (34) a plurality of anatomical markers within the network of blood vessels.

A medical image processing apparatus of an embodiment includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to acquire time-series medical images including blood vessels of an examination subject, the time-series medical images being fluoroscopically captured in at least one direction at a plurality of points in time, generate a blood vessel shape model including time-series variation information about the blood vessels in an analysis region of the blood vessels on the basis of the acquired time-series medical images, and perform fluid analysis of blood flowing through the blood vessels on the basis of the generated blood vessel shape model.

A method for processing digital subtraction angiography (DSA) or computed tomography (CT) images for reduced radiation exposure to a DSA or CT subject includes receiving, as input, a plurality of captured DSA or CT image frames of a contrast agent flowing through a volume of interest in a subject. The method further includes fitting a mathematical model to measured contrast agent density of individual voxels of the captured DSA or CT image frames to produce a mathematical model of contrast agent flow across the captured DSA or CT image frames. The method further includes sampling the mathematical model of contrast agent flow for the individual voxels to produce reconstructed DSA or CT image frames. The method further includes outputting at least one of the reconstructed CT or DSA image frames.

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.

In order to provide an arithmetic device, an X-ray CT apparatus, and an image reconstruction method, capable of reducing processing time while maintaining a noise reduction effect, in a successive approximation image reconstruction method (separable paraboloidal surrogate (SPS) method) of the related art, updated images are forward-projected, whenever images are repeatedly updated, a difference between forward projection data and original object projection data is back-projected so that a difference image is obtained, and a forward projection process and a back projection process are repeatedly performed, but, in the present invention, a forward projection process and a back projection process requiring calculation time are replaced with a process requiring a relatively small calculation amount, such as a difference between an updated image and a reference image, and, as a result, it is possible to considerably reduce a calculation amount in a successive approximation image reconstruction process and to reduce processing time.