WO2014199266A1 - Affichage d'images irm avec un réglage automatique de la largeur et de la position de la fenêtre basé sur le contexte clinique - Google Patents

Affichage d'images irm avec un réglage automatique de la largeur et de la position de la fenêtre basé sur le contexte clinique Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014199266A1
WO2014199266A1 PCT/IB2014/062001 IB2014062001W WO2014199266A1 WO 2014199266 A1 WO2014199266 A1 WO 2014199266A1 IB 2014062001 W IB2014062001 W IB 2014062001W WO 2014199266 A1 WO2014199266 A1 WO 2014199266A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
information
window
offset
window width
accordance
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PCT/IB2014/062001
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English (en)
Inventor
Rudolf Theodoor Springorum
Frederik Visser
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Koninklijke Philips N.V.
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Publication of WO2014199266A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014199266A1/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T5/00—Image enhancement or restoration
    • G06T5/40—Image enhancement or restoration by the use of histogram techniques
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01R—MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G01R33/00—Arrangements or instruments for measuring magnetic variables
    • G01R33/20—Arrangements or instruments for measuring magnetic variables involving magnetic resonance
    • G01R33/44—Arrangements or instruments for measuring magnetic variables involving magnetic resonance using nuclear magnetic resonance [NMR]
    • G01R33/48—NMR imaging systems
    • G01R33/54—Signal processing systems, e.g. using pulse sequences ; Generation or control of pulse sequences; Operator console
    • G01R33/56—Image enhancement or correction, e.g. subtraction or averaging techniques, e.g. improvement of signal-to-noise ratio and resolution
    • G01R33/5608—Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels
    • G06T5/92—
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H30/00—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical images
    • G16H30/40—ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical images for processing medical images, e.g. editing
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H40/00—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
    • G16H40/60—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the operation of medical equipment or devices
    • G16H40/63—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the operation of medical equipment or devices for local operation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/10—Image acquisition modality
    • G06T2207/10072—Tomographic images
    • G06T2207/10088—Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
    • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
    • G06T2207/30004—Biomedical image processing

Definitions

  • the present system relates to a medical imaging system which automatically controls settings for content to be rendered and, more particularly, to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system which automatically controls settings for content to be rendered such as window width and level settings in accordance with clinical context.
  • MRI magnetic resonance imaging
  • MR images e.g., source
  • a scan of an imaging volume also known as a region of interest (ROI), a volume of interest (VOI), a scanning region, etc.
  • ROI region of interest
  • VOI volume of interest
  • a scanning region etc.
  • 12-bit format which provides 4096 grey scale resolution.
  • 8-bit grayscale contrast resolution e.g., 8-bit value grayscale values from black to white
  • a translation must be performed to convert the stored 12-bit format values to corresponding 8-bit grayscale values for the display.
  • this relation is nonlinear, with the most desirable signal values concentrating around a part of a corresponding full 12-bit scale of the 12-bit format of the source information. Accordingly, this non-linearity may cause some image information to be lost during the translation which may result in flat images that may lack contrast and/or brightness. Accordingly, a user (e.g., a professional such as a radiologist, etc.) may manually perform a windowing process to adjust the contrast and level (e.g., brightness) of the displayed image, as desired. However, each time the same MR image information is viewed in a different clinical context, this MR image information must typically be re-windowed manually by a user to the adjust contrast and/or the level.
  • a user e.g., a professional such as a radiologist, etc.
  • the signal intensities for the same scans of the same clinical context performed on different patients may vary and require windowing for image information from each patient even though the scan is of the clinical context. Accordingly, the windowing process must be repeatedly performed which is time consuming, and inconvenient.
  • Embodiments of the present system automatically determine and set window width and/or level settings based upon one or more of exam type (e.g., exam protocol and/or context), historical information saved in a memory of the system, and/or user settings. Accordingly, window width and/or level settings may be set automatically by the system thereby reducing the need for manual adjustment and/or repeat windowing to be performed.
  • the user preferences may be unique to a user or may be shared by a plurality of users, as desired.
  • a medical imaging system including: a medical imaging system for rendering images, the medical imaging system including at least one controller configured to obtain image information including a reconstructed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image of an imaging volume; determine window width (WW) and window level (WL) information for the image information; obtain window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a clinical context of the scan; adjust the window width (WW) and window level (WL) information in accordance with the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information, respectively; and/or form adjusted image information in accordance with the adjusted window width (WW) and adjusted window level (WW) information.
  • MRI magnetic resonance imaging
  • WWo window width offset
  • WLo window level offset
  • the MIS may further include a display, wherein the controller may be configured to render the adjusted image information on the display. Moreover, the controller may be configured to perform a learning operation (e.g., in a learning mode) to determine user-adjusted window width (WW) and window level (WL') information. It is also envisioned that the controller may be configured to determine the window width offset (WWo) based upon a ratio of the user-adjusted window width (WW) information to the window width (WW) information. It is further envisioned that the controller may be configured to determine the window level offset (WLo) information based upon a ratio of the window level (WL' ) information to the window level (WL) information. Moreover, the MIS may further include a memory, wherein the controller may be configured to store the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a clinical context of the scan in the memory.
  • a learning operation e.g., in a learning mode
  • a method of reconstructing and rendering magnetic resonance (MR) image information on a display of a MR imaging (MRI) system the method performed by at least one controller of the MRI system and may include one on or more acts of obtaining image information including a reconstructed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image of an imaging volume; determining window width (WW) and window level (WL) information for the image information; obtaining window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a clinical context of the scan; adjusting the window width (WW) and window level (WL) information in accordance with the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information, respectively; and forming adjusted image information in accordance with the adjusted window width (WW) and adjusted window level (WW) information.
  • MRI magnetic resonance imaging
  • WWo window width offset
  • WLo window level offset
  • the method may include an act of rendering the adjusted image information on a display. Further, the method may include an act of performing a learning operation to determine user-adjusted window width (WW) and window level (WL') information. It is also envisioned that the method may include an act of determining the window width offset (WWo) based upon a ratio of the user-adjusted window width (WW) to the window width (WW) information. Moreover, the method may include an act of determining window level offset (WLo) information based upon a ratio of the user-adjusted window level (WL' ) information to the window level (WL) information. It is also envisioned that the method may include an act of storing the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a clinical context of the scan in a memory.
  • the method may further include an act of storing window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information for a plurality of scans in accordance with a clinical context of each scan of the plurality of scans in a memory.
  • the method may also include an act of determining the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a selected offset rule of a plurality of offset rules.
  • a computer program stored on a computer readable memory medium, the computer program configured to reconstruct and render magnetic resonance (MR) image information on a display of an MR imaging (MRI) system
  • the computer program may include a program portion configured to obtain image information including a reconstructed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image of an imaging volume; determine window width (WW) and window level (WL) information for the image information; obtain window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a clinical context of the scan; adjust the window width (WW) and window level (WL) information in accordance with the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information, respectively; and form adjusted image information in accordance with the adjusted window width (WW) and adjusted window level (WW) information.
  • MRI magnetic resonance imaging
  • WWo window width offset
  • WLo window level offset
  • the program portion may be further configured to render the adjusted image information on a display. It is also envisioned that the program portion may be further configured to perform a learning operation to determine user adjusted window width (WW) and window level (WL' ) information. Moreover, the program portion may be further configured to determine the window width offset (WWo) based upon a ratio of the user-adjusted window width (WW) to the window width (WW) information. It is also envisioned that the program portion may be further configured to determine the window level offset (WLo) information based upon a ratio of the window level (WL' ) information to the window level (WL) information.
  • WW window width offset
  • WLo window level offset
  • the program portion may be further configured to store the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a clinical context of the scan in the memory medium. It is also envisioned that the program portion may be further configured to store the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information for a plurality of scans in accordance with a clinical context of each scan of the plurality of scans in the memory medium. It is also envisioned that the program portion may be further configured to determine the window width offset (WWo) and window level offset (WLo) information in accordance with a selected offset rule of a plurality of offset rules.
  • FIG. 1 is a flow diagram that illustrates a process performed by a MRI system in accordance with embodiments of the present system
  • FIG. 2 shows a graph of a histogram in accordance with embodiments of the present system
  • FIG. 3 shows a screenshot of an MR image and a graph including corresponding histogram information in accordance with embodiments of the present system
  • FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that illustrates a process performed by a MRI system in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • FIG. 5 shows a portion of a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present system.
  • the following are descriptions of illustrative embodiments that when taken in conjunction with the following drawings will demonstrate the above noted features and advantages, as well as further ones.
  • illustrative details are set forth such as architecture, interfaces, techniques, element attributes, etc.
  • FIG. 5 shows a portion of a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present system.
  • FIG. 1 is a flow diagram that illustrates a process 100 performed by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the process 100 may be performed using one or more computers communicating over a network and may obtain information and/or store information using one or more memories which may be local and/or remote from each other.
  • the process 100 may include one of more of the following acts. Further, one or more of these acts may be combined and/or separated into sub-acts, if desired. Further, one or more of the acts of the process 100 may be performed sequentially and/or in parallel with one or more other acts of the process 100. In operation, the process may start during act 101 and then proceed to act 103.
  • the process may obtain scan information corresponding to a current scan having a corresponding clinical context (e.g., a T2 weighted (T2w) scan X
  • a current scan having a corresponding clinical context e.g., a T2 weighted (T2w) scan X
  • T2w T2 weighted
  • MR scans have different image appearances depending on parameter settings. These differences based on parameter settings determine how human tissue appears in images, such as water being white or black, or fat tissue being bright or dark etc. These differences typically result in scan types that are referred to as "Tlw” (Tl weighted) or "T2w” (T2 weighted) or "fat suppressed T2", etc.
  • the same scan type may be used in different clinical contexts such as "Brain” or "Spine” or "Liver”.
  • the windowing preferences for the same scan type are different for each context in which it is used.
  • a T2w scan may have different windowing preferences when performed during a "Brain - Tumor” examination as compared to when it is used in the clinical context of a "Spine - herniation" examination.
  • the clinical context may include a plurality of protocol types.
  • a first exam protocol may be known as a "Knee Cartilage" protocol
  • a second exam protocol may be known as a "Knee Meniscus” protocol
  • the scan information may be obtained in real time or from a memory of the system and may include, for example, image information.
  • the image information may include reconstructed image information of an imaging volume and may be obtained using techniques, the details of which are outside the scope of the present system.
  • the image information may include k-space information obtained using one or more scans, such as MR scans, etc., corresponding to a scanned k-space.
  • the scan information may be obtained from other types of scans such as x-ray scans, ultrasound scans, nuclear medicine type scans, etc.
  • the scan information may include associated information such as user identification (ID) (e.g., a professional performing the scan, viewing, and/or editing the scan such as a radiologist, an MRI technician, etc.), examination tags (e.g., clinical conditions), exam type, clinical context, patient name (e.g., John Smith, etc.), day, date, time information (e.g., of acquisition, storage, viewing, editing, etc.), system type (e.g., Philips AchievaTM), system parameters, etc.
  • ID user identification
  • examination tags e.g., clinical conditions
  • exam type e.g., clinical context
  • patient name e.g., John Smith, etc.
  • time information e.g., of acquisition, storage, viewing, editing, etc.
  • system type e.g., Philips AchievaTM
  • the examination tags may include information related to a clinical condition for which the exam was configured (e.g., a tumor, an infection, a hypertrophy, a lesion, etc.) and one or more corresponding body parts (e.g., a brain, a spine, a knee, a liver, a heart, etc.) for examination.
  • the image information may include a 12-bit format image (e.g., 12-bi ⁇ s per pixel) which may provide 4096 grey-scale (contrast) resolution.
  • act 105 the process may perform a windowing operation to determine initial window settings based upon the image information.
  • the windowing operation sets values of window width (WW) and window level (WL) of image information to control contrast and brightness, respectively, of a displayed image.
  • the windowing operation may be represented using a histogram such as that shown in FIG. 2 which shows a graph 200 of a histogram in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the image information may represent a 12-bit format image providing 4096 gray scale resolution.
  • the initial window settings may include values such as a window width (WW) and a window level (WL) before adjustment.
  • the process may determine the widow width (WW) and the window level (WL) using any suitable method or methods.
  • the process may calculate initial values of the window width (WW) and the window level (WL) based on a signal intensity distribution of the image information using a histogram which may represent the image information. More particularly, the histogram may indicate a % occurrence vs. signal intensity of pixels in the image information.
  • the process may then employ an algorithm to analyze the histogram of the signal intensities present and determine the window width (WW) and window level (WL).
  • the window width (WW) may represent a window (W) which includes a range of signal values to be displayed on a selected display device such as an 8-bi ⁇ grayscale contrast resolution display in the current example. However, displays having other resolutions are also envisioned.
  • the window (W) may be bracketed (i.e., defined) by start and end threshold values such as a start threshold value (A) (hereinafter start value or start cutoff value) and an end threshold value (C) (hereinafter end value or end cutoff value), respectively.
  • start threshold value A
  • start cutoff value an end threshold value
  • C end threshold value
  • the process may determine that start value (A) and the end value (C) of the window (W) using any suitable method or methods.
  • the system may set the end value (C) equal to a point at which a certain percentage, such as 99.5% in the current example, of all of the pixels in the image information have a lower signal intensity. This point may be referred to as an end percent (%_end) and may be set by the system and/or user to other values (e.g., 97.2%, 98.0%, 99.8%), as desired, and stored in a memory of the system for later use.
  • the process may determine this value using any suitable method.
  • the start value (A) may be set to a percentage (or fraction) of the end value (C) .
  • This percentage may be known as a start percent (%_s ⁇ art) and may be set by the system and/or user and stored in a memory of the system for later use.
  • the start value (A) of the window (W) may be set at 7% of the determined end value (C) .
  • the start percent (%_s ⁇ art) may be set to 7%.
  • other values are also envisioned.
  • the window width (WW) may be determined as a difference of the end value (C) and the start value (A) . This may be represented by Equation 1 below.
  • the window level (W) (shown as B) may be determined as a midpoint between the start value (A) and the end value (C) . This may be represented by Equation 2 below.
  • FIG. 3 shows a screenshot 300 of an MR image 302 and a graph 304 including corresponding histogram information in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the graph 304 represents a histogram of showing a percentage of pixels in the image that have a the signal intensity value as the ordinate vs. signal intensity of pixels as the abscissa which is similar to the histogram shown in graph 200.
  • the start and end values illustratively are set in accordance with the example given above.
  • the %_end is set to 99.5% and the end value (C) has been determined to have a value of 2052.
  • 99.5% of all pixels in the image information have a lower signal intensity value.
  • the process may cutoff pixels which are less than the start value (A) and greater than the end value (C) of the window (W) and render a corresponding image such as MR image 302 on a display of the system.
  • these preliminary setting provide a flat appearance of the image and may require windowing to increase contrast and/or level (e.g., brightness). Accordingly, it may be desirable to adjust the contrast and/or brightness using a windowing process in accordance with embodiments of the present system as will be described below.
  • the process may continue to act 107.
  • the initial values of the window width (WW) and/or the window level (WL) for the image information of the current scan may be adjusted by the user and/or system.
  • any suitable user input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a numerical pad, etc., may be manipulated to effect these changes.
  • the system may provide a user with an option (e.g., via a menu item, a numerical entry box, a slider, a user input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touchpad, etc.) to manually adjust one or more of the initial values such as the window width (WW) and/or window level (WL) for the current image information which may be displayed on a display of the system in real time to reflect these changes.
  • the user may do this graphically for example, using a direct mouse manipulation in which pressing and holding down the mouse button will change WW values when it is determined that the mouse has moved horizontally and WL values when it is determined that the mouse has moved vertically in relation to a rendered image.
  • the system may continuously update the rendered image in real time to reflect changes in image contrast and brightness due to input of the user.
  • the initial values such as the window width (WW) and/or window level (WL) for the current image information a user may be manually adjusted by, for example, moving one or more sliders (e.g., a contrast slider and a level slider), dragging an edge of the window (W) (e.g., edges associated with the start value, the end value, the window level, etc.), dragging a corner of the window (W), etc.
  • the user may change values for any of the initial values (e.g., A, C, WL, WW, etc.) by entering a value directly into a numerical entry box or the like.
  • These adjustments may be shown by representing the changes in an image such as the image 302 and/or in the graph 304 as displayed on the display of the system in real time.
  • an image may be adjusted to enhance its contrast and/or brightness when displayed.
  • the window width (WW) may be decreased in value; and to darken an image, the window level (WL) may be increased in value.
  • the value of the window width (WW) may be increased.
  • the window level (WL) may be decreased. In this way and/or other adjustment processes, the start value and the end value may be adjusted in accordance with the aforementioned changes of window width (WL) and window level (WL).
  • the adjusted values of the start value (A), the end value (C), the window level (WL), and the window width (WW) will be referred to as an adjusted start value ( ⁇ '), an adjusted end value (C) , an adjusted window level (WL'), and an adjusted window width (WW), respectively.
  • the process may continue to act 109.
  • the process may determine offset values (e.g., determine offsets from the initial values) for the image information of the current scan.
  • the offset values may include information related to a start value offset (Ao), a window level offset (WLo), an end value offset (Co), and a window width offset (WWo) .
  • These offset values may be determined using Equation 3 below and may generally be equal to the initial values of A, C, WL, and WW divided by the adjusted values i.e., A', C, WL', and WW' , respectively.
  • these offset values may be represented as a % of the initial values.
  • the process may continue to act 1 1 1 .
  • the process may store the offset values determined in accordance with the clinical context of the present scan.
  • the clinical context of a scan may include a plurality of clinical protocols for scans.
  • a first clinical protocol may include a T2w scan.
  • the offset values may be stored in a table of an "ExamCard" associated with the current scan protocol of a plurality of "ExamCards".
  • the offset values may be store associated with a Knee Cartilage protocol.
  • each "ExamCard” may include its own unique table (e.g., an offset table) with corresponding offset values.
  • the stored offset values may be specific for a clinical context i.e., a corresponding exam protocol.
  • the window width (WW) may illustratively be initially set to 1909 and the window level (WL) to 1098.
  • the process may determine that the adjusted window width (WW) is 1506 and the adjusted window level (WL') is 988, respectively.
  • the exact same T2w scan may also be part of the same protocol (e.g., cartilage study of the knee) including a context of an examination protocol (e.g., created for detecting meniscus tears).
  • a context of an examination protocol e.g., created for detecting meniscus tears.
  • storing the context is useful in that for example, the anatomy that a professional such as a radiologist is interested in may differ from the previous clinical context. For example, a radiologist may desire a much lighter appearance (e.g., increased brightness) of an image for this scan than may be desired for the clinical context.
  • the values of the adjusted window width (WW) and the adjusted window level (WL') are determined to be 1 704 and 786, respectively.
  • the calculated offsets may then be determined in accordance with Equation 3 above.
  • acts 103 through 1 1 1 may be performed in a learning mode in which users may: be presented with one or more scans (e.g., including corresponding MR image information); select clinical contexts for these scans; view images in accordance with the context of the scans on a display of the system; adjust contrast and/or brightness of the scan by for example performing a manual windowing operation of translated image information; store the offset values (and/or the initial and/or adjusted values determined by the process) in accordance with the selected context of the scan for later use.
  • scans e.g., including corresponding MR image information
  • select clinical contexts for these scans view images in accordance with the context of the scans on a display of the system
  • adjust contrast and/or brightness of the scan by for example performing a manual windowing operation of translated image information
  • store the offset values and/or the initial and/or adjusted values determined by the process
  • a new scan may be executed to obtain scan information and, thus, image information of a scanning volume using an MR reconstruction process.
  • the scan may have a clinical context as may be selected by the system and/or user. For example, a user may enter information to request that the system display the image information on a display of the system in accordance with a selected clinical context of a plurality of clinical context.
  • the process may window the image information and determine initial window values (e.g., WW and WL) for the current image information.
  • initial window values e.g., WW and WL
  • the process may apply the offset values (e.g., WWo and WLo) which are stored in accordance with the same clinical context as the current scan to the window values obtained during act 1 13 (i.e., WW and WL, respectively) .
  • the applied offset values may be obtained from a memory of the system and may be stored in accordance with a corresponding clinical context as discussed above. Accordingly, the process may determine the clinical context of the current scan and obtain corresponding offset values that are stored in the memory of the system.
  • These stored offset values for the same clinical context may then be applied to the initial window values (e.g., WW and WL) obtained during act 1 13 so as to obtain adjusted window values (e.g., to WW' and WL', respectively) .
  • the image information may be rendered on a display of the system in accordance with the adjusted window information (e.g., WW' and WL') .
  • the adjusted window width (WW) may be determined by multiplying the initial window width by the window width offset (WWo) value and the adjusted window level (WL' ) may be determined by multiplying the initial window level (WL) by the window level offset (WLo).
  • the stored offset values may be applied ⁇ o the initial window values to form adjusted window values with requiring an operators adjustment to the values. Thereafter the image information may be rendered in accordance with the adjusted window values on a display of the system.
  • the need for manual windowing may be reduced or entirely eliminated, thereby reducing costs, save time, enhance user convenience and/or provide reproducibility of the scan results.
  • the process may also apply offset rules to the offset information.
  • these offset rules may determine values of the offset information to use.
  • the offset rules may be useful for example when there is a plurality of offsets stored for a particular clinical context. Further rules may allow the process to select for example most up to date offsets (e.g., most recently applied offsets), an average of offsets etc.
  • Knee Cartilage protocol scan may be performed four times on four different patients (e.g., patients A through D). Each of these scans may have the same clinical context and results of these exams are shown in Table 1 below.
  • the system may determine initial values of window width (WW) and window level (WL) (i.e., initial window values) as described with respect to acts 103 and 105 above, and render an image corresponding with a reconstructed image in accordance with these window values.
  • WW window width
  • WL window level
  • these initial window values of WW and WL may vary per patient scan as illustrated in Table 1 .
  • the process may render images in accordance with the image information and the initial window values and, thereafter, user-adjusted values for the window width (WW) and window level (WL') may be obtained using a windowing process (e.g., via user interaction) as described during act 107 in accordance with a clinical context of these exams.
  • offset values e.g., WWo and WWI
  • initial values e.g., WW and WL
  • user-adjusted values e.g., WW' and WL'
  • at least the offset values (e.g., WWo and WLo) for each of the exams may be stored in a memory of the system in accordance with the clinical context of the exams as discussed above with respect to act 1 1 1 so as to update history information for scans of the same clinical context.
  • the process may obtain corresponding offset values (e.g., offsef values stored for fhe same clinical context as fhe current exam) from a memory of fhe system such as from Table 1 .
  • offset values e.g., offsef values stored for fhe same clinical context as fhe current exam
  • Table 1 wifh reference fo Table 1 .
  • fhere are a plurality of values for each of fhe WWo and WLo entries.
  • fhe process may further apply offsef rules to fhe stored offsef informafion to defermine which offsef values to use and/or how fo modify fhe offsef values (e.g., by averaging, etc.) .
  • Table 2 shown below is an offsef rules table which shows fhree exemplary offsef rules which may be applied to fhe stored offsef values to select corresponding offsef values (e.g., of WWo and WLo) fo apply to a current exam in accordance with embodiments of fhe present system. Any of these three offsef rules may be set as a default method (e.g., indicated by *) to use and/or may be modified (e.g., set and/or reset) by a user, as desired. It is further envisioned that other rules (e.g., methods) may be defined, if desired.
  • the process may obtain offset values (e.g., WWI and WWo) in accordance with the selected offset rules as they may apply to the stored offset values for the same clinical context.
  • offset values e.g., WWI and WWo
  • the process may determine WWI and WWo as the average of each of the stored offset values for patients C and D. Accordingly, the process may the set WWo and WLo to be equal ⁇ o 79% and 90%, respectively. Thereafter, the process may determine adjusted window values in accordance with the initial window values and the offset values to obtain modified window values. The process may then render the image information for the current scan on a display of the system in accordance with the adjusted window values. After completing act 1 15, the process may continue to act 1 1 7.
  • the process may update information such as history information corresponding with a clinical context of the current scan using results of the current scan such as the determined window values (e.g., WW and WL), adjusted window values (WW and WL'), and/or calculated offset values (WWo and WLo) of the present exam. Further, if a user adjusts for example window width and/or window level of a current scan, the process may determine new offset values accordingly and store these new offset values in a memory of the system in accordance with the clinical context of the current scan for later use. After completing act 1 1 7, the process may continue to act 1 19 where it may end.
  • the determined window values e.g., WW and WL
  • adjusted window values WW and WL'
  • WWo and WLo calculated offset values
  • the process may record offset values for individual users, such as a category of user such as a radiologist and/or a given identified user, such as user "A", separately. Accordingly, the system may for example apply correction values in accordance with previous settings of the offset values used by the corresponding user.
  • the process may determine a user via a user ID which may be determined by the system, may be entered by the user at any time, and/or may be otherwise determined. Accordingly, once a user is identified, the process may set offsets in accordance with the personal preferences of the identified category of user and/or the identified user.
  • acts 1 13 through 1 1 7 may be performed during an applied mode in which adjusted offset values may be determined by the system automatically in accordance with the offset information corresponding with a clinical context of the scan.
  • This illustrative process may be provided as opposed to the learning mode during which the adjusted offset values may be manually input and thereafter offset values maybe determined and stored in accordance with a clinical context of the scan.
  • the adjusted offset values may be used by a window operation to adjust the image information to form adjusted image information for display on the display.
  • FIG. 4 is a flow diagram that illustrates a process 400 performed by a MRI system in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the process 400 may be performed using one or more computers communicating over a network and may obtain information and/or store information using one or more memories which may be local and/or remote from each other.
  • the process 400 may include one of more of the following acts. Further, one or more of these acts may be combined and/or separated into sub-acts, if desired. Further, one or more of the acts of the process 400 may be performed sequentially and/or in parallel with one or more other acts of the process 400. In operation, the process may start during act 401 and then proceed to act 403.
  • scan information may be obtained and may include image information of an imaging volume which has been reconstructed using an MRI method of the present system.
  • the image information may have an n-bit format.
  • the process may continue to act 405.
  • the user may select a clinical context for the image information to be displayed. For example, a user may select a "Knee Cartilage" protocol from a plurality of protocols presented to the user (e.g., via a display which may have an m-bit format, where m ⁇ n).
  • the process may continue to act 407.
  • the process may perform a windowing operation to determine initial values of window width (WW) and window level (WL) in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the process may continue to act 409.
  • the process may obtain one or more offset values (e.g., WWo, and WLo) in accordance with the clinical context of the scan.
  • offset values may be stored in a memory of the system and may be determined in accordance with selected offset rules (e.g., a default offset rule, a user selected offset rule, etc.) .
  • selected offset rules e.g., a default offset rule, a user selected offset rule, etc.
  • the offset values may be determined in accordance with clinical context and the selected offset rules, if any, that apply. Further, the offset rules may be selected in accordance with the clinical context of the scan.
  • a scan having a first clinical context may have a first offset rule that applies and a scan of a different clinical context may have a different clinical rule that applies.
  • the applicable offset rules may be selected by the system and/or user and may be stored in a memory of the system in accordance with clinical context for later use. After completing act 409, the process may continue to act 41 1 .
  • the process may adjust the value of the window width (WW) and window level (WL) in accordance with the offset values obtained during act 409. Accordingly, the process may multiply WW and WL by WWo, and WLo, respectively and form adjusted window width (WW) and window level (WL') information. After completing act 41 1 , the process may continue to act 413.
  • the process may adjust the image information in accordance with the adjusted window width (WW) and adjusted window level (WL') .
  • adjusted image information may be in a format compatible with the display such as m-bit information (e.g., 8 bit information with 255 grayscale values in the present example) .
  • the adjusted image information may be stored as adjusted image information so that the original image information is not changed by the present process.
  • the process may continue to act 415.
  • the process may render the adjusted image information on a display of the system.
  • the process may continue to act 41 7, where it may end.
  • FIG. 5 shows a portion of a system 500 in accordance with an embodiment of the present system.
  • a portion of the present system 500 may include a processor 510 (e.g., a controller) operationally coupled to a memory 520, a user interface 530, drivers 540, RF transducers 560, magnetic coils 590, and a user input device 570.
  • the memory 520 may be any type of device for storing application data as well as other data related to the described operation.
  • the application data and other data are received by the processor 510 for configuring (e.g., programming) the processor 510 to perform operation acts in accordance with the present system.
  • the processor 510 so configured becomes a special purpose machine particularly suited for performing in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the magnetic coils 590 may include main magnet coils (e.g., main magnets, DC coils, etc.), and the gradient coils (e.g., x-, y-, and z-gradient coils, gradient slice select, gradient phase encoding, etc.) and may be controlled to emit a main magnetic field and/or gradient fields in a desired direction and/or strength in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • main magnet coils e.g., main magnets, DC coils, etc.
  • the gradient coils e.g., x-, y-, and z-gradient coils, gradient slice select, gradient phase encoding, etc.
  • the controller may control the main magnet coils (e.g., main magnets, DC coils, etc.), and the gradient coils (e.g., x-, y-, and z-gradient coils, gradient slice select, gradient phase encoding, etc.) and may be controlled to emit a main magnetic field and/or gradient fields in a desired direction and/or strength in accordance with a clinical context of a current scan.
  • the main magnet coils e.g., main magnets, DC coils, etc.
  • the gradient coils e.g., x-, y-, and z-gradient coils, gradient slice select, gradient phase encoding, etc.
  • the operation acts may include configuring an imaging system such as an MRI system 500 by, for example, the processor 520 controlling the drivers 540 to generate main, gradient, and/or RF signals for output by the main magnet coils, gradient coils, and/or RF transducers, respectively. Thereafter, echo information may be received by receivers of the RF transducers 560 and provided to the processor 510 for further processing and/or reconstruction into image information in accordance with embodiments of the present system.
  • the processor 510 may control the drivers 540 to provide power to the magnetic coils 590 so that a desired magnetic field is emitted at a desired time.
  • the RF transducers 560 may be controlled to transmit RF pulses at the test subject and/or to receive information such as MRI (echo) information therefrom.
  • a reconstructor may process detected information such as the echo information and transform the detected echo information into content which may include image information (e.g., still or video images such as video information), data, and/or graphs that may be rendered on, for example, the user interface (Ul) 530 such as a display, a speaker, etc. Further, the content may then be stored in a memory of the system such as the memory 520 for later use and/or processing in accordance with embodiments of the present system. Thus, operation acts may include requesting, providing, and/or rendering of content such as, for example, reconstructed image information that may be obtained from the echo information. The processor 510 may render the content such as video information on the Ul 530 such as on a display of the system.
  • the reconstructor may reconstruct information obtained from an imaging volume (e.g., a k-space volume, etc.) and generate corresponding image information using any suitable image processing method or methods such as digital signal processing (DSP), algorithms, echo-planar imaging methods, balanced steady- state free precision methods, etc.
  • This image information may be referred to as content.
  • a window application may apply window settings to the content so as to modify the content so that it may be rendered on a display of the system with desired contrast and/or brightness.
  • One or more of the drivers 540, RF transducers 560, and magnetic coils 590 may operate as sensors receiving information such as echo image information.
  • the sensors may include suitable sensors to provide desired information to the processor 510 for further processing.
  • the user input 570 may include a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, or other device, such as a touch-sensitive display, which may be stand alone or be a part of a system, such as part of a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a monitor, a smart- or dumb-terminal or other device for communicating with the processor 510 via any operable link.
  • the user input device 570 may be operable for interacting with the processor 510 including enabling interaction within a Ul as described herein.
  • the processor 510, the memory 520, display 530, and/or user input device 570 may all or partly be a portion of a computer system or other device such as a client and/or server.
  • the methods of the present system are particularly suited to be carried out by a computer software program, such program containing modules corresponding to one or more of the individual steps or acts described and/or envisioned by the present system.
  • a computer software program such program containing modules corresponding to one or more of the individual steps or acts described and/or envisioned by the present system.
  • Such program may of course be embodied in a computer-readable medium, such as an integrated chip, a peripheral device or memory, such as the memory 520 or other memory coupled to the processor 510.
  • the program and/or program portions contained in the memory 520 configure the processor 510 to implement the methods, operational acts, and functions disclosed herein.
  • the memories may be distributed, for example between the clients and/or servers, or local, and the processor 510, where additional processors may be provided, may also be distributed or may be singular.
  • the memories may be implemented as electrical, magnetic or optical memory, or any combination of these or other types of storage devices.
  • the term "memory" should be construed broadly enough to encompass any information able to be read from or written to an address in an addressable space accessible by the processor 510. With this definition, information accessible through a network is still within the memory, for instance, because the processor 510 may retrieve the information from the network for operation in accordance with the present system.
  • the processor 510 is operable for providing control signals and/or performing operations in response to input signals from the user input device 570 as well as in response to other devices of a network and executing instructions stored in the memory 520.
  • the processor 510 may include one or more of a microprocessor, an application-specific or general-use integrated circuit(s), a logic device, etc. Further, the processor 510 may be a dedicated processor for performing in accordance with the present system or may be a general- purpose processor wherein only one of many functions operates for performing in accordance with the present system.
  • the processor 510 may operate utilizing a program portion, multiple program segments, or may be a hardware device utilizing a dedicated or multi-purpose integrated circuit.
  • embodiments of the present system may analyze a histogram of the stored image intensity values of the image information and calculate the initial window width and window level settings using any suitable method.
  • an algorithm may detect a cut-off or threshold value beyond which very few pixel intensities are present in the image information.
  • the algorithms employed by embodiments of the present system may calculate initial window width and level settings that produce a rather consistent appearance of the images on a display of the system.
  • the window width and window level settings may be set in accordance with current and/or previously defined user setting for any clinical context under which the images may be rendered on the display. This is may be particularly desirable in cases wherein standard windowing settings provide less than desirable results.
  • MR acquisition techniques such as MR Angiography, Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), MR Urethrography, fat suppressed images, inversion recovery scans, subtracted images, and the like have signal intensities distributed in an atypical manner compared to standard MR acquisition (reconstruction) techniques. This may be largely due to a relative large amount of background noise due to suppressed tissue techniques applied. Accordingly, conventional methods require that these scans be manually windowed to adjust window width and window level. However, in accordance with embodiments of the present system the windowing may be automatically performed in accordance with previously stored settings.
  • a user might be interested in different anatomical structures. This requires that a scan used in one clinical context have different window width and level settings when used in another clinical context. Further, personal preferences of the viewer of the images may dictate different windowing settings. For example, some people like more contrast while other people prefer darker images. This is a matter of taste and embodiments of the present system may provide for user defined adjustments to adjust to a user's taste and storing of these settings for future use by that user or another user that has similar taste and desires the image to have similar viewing characteristics.
  • Embodiments of the present system may be compatible with various medical imaging devices where difficulties in setting the initial window width and level settings or contrast and brightness settings may be expected. Without limitation, this may include, inter alia, Magnetic Resonance, X-Ray, Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, etc., imaging systems. Further, embodiments of the present system may be compatible with conventional medical imaging systems such as PHILIPSTM AchievaTM, InteraTM, and IngeniaTM imaging systems and the like.
  • the system may determine adjusted window values of WW and WL' from a user input or other adjustment method.
  • the system may determine adjusted window values of WW' and WL' automatically based upon offset values (e.g., WWo and WLo) as applied to window values (WW and WL) determined by the system.
  • the system may render image information in accordance with the adjusted window values WW' a nd WL' .
  • This image information may be referred to as adjusted image information.
  • the original image information will not be adjusted so that it may be used for rendering images using scans of different contexts without altering data of the image information.
  • the windowing application may, in some embodiments, determine the number of bits image information includes and/or a number of bits that a display supports and match the windowing operation accordingly.
  • embodiments described herein are not to be construed as limited to the image generation modalities described herein.
  • user preferred viewing settings e.g., window width and level, etc.
  • a virtual environment solicitation is provided to a user to enable simple immersion into a virtual environment and its objects.
  • any of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware portions (e.g., including discrete and integrated electronic circuitry), software portions (e.g., computer programming), and any combination thereof;
  • hardware portions may be comprised of one or both of analog and digital portions; g) any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be combined together or separated into further portions unless specifically stated otherwise; h) no specific sequence of acts or steps is intended to be required unless specifically indicated; and
  • the term "plurality of" an element includes two or more of the claimed element, and does not imply any particular range of number of elements; that is, a plurality of elements may be as few as two elements, and may include an immeasurable number of elements.

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système d'imagerie médical destiné à rendre des images. Le système d'imagerie médicale comprend un ou plusieurs dispositifs de commande qui peuvent obtenir des informations d'images comprenant une image d'imagerie de résonance magnétique (IRM) reconstruite d'un volume d'imagerie; déterminer des informations de largeur de fenêtre (WW) et de position de fenêtre (WL) pour les informations d'images; obtenir des informations de décalage de largeur de fenêtre (WWo) et de décalage de position de fenêtre (WLo) conformément à un contexte clinique de l'analyseur; ajuster les informations de largeur de fenêtre (WW) et de position de fenêtre (WL) conformément aux informations de décalage de largeur de fenêtre (WWo) et de décalage de position de fenêtre (WLo), respectivement; et/ou former des informations d'images ajustées conformément à la largeur de fenêtre (WW) ajustée et à la position de fenêtre (WL) ajustée.
PCT/IB2014/062001 2013-06-12 2014-06-06 Affichage d'images irm avec un réglage automatique de la largeur et de la position de la fenêtre basé sur le contexte clinique WO2014199266A1 (fr)

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