Patent ID: 11892530
Assignee: RAMOT AT TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY LTD.
Field: Pharmaceuticals (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 0:
1. Apparatus for operating MRI, comprising:
a control for operating an MRI scanner to carry out an MRI scan of an organ of a subject;
an input for receiving first and second MRI scans respectively at the beginning and end of a predetermined time interval post contrast administration, wherein said beginning of said predetermined time interval is at least three minutes and no more than twenty minutes post contrast administration, and wherein said end of said predetermined time interval is at least twenty minutes after said beginning of said predetermined time interval;
an image processor having a circuit configured for forming a subtraction map from said first and said second MRI scans by analyzing said scans to distinguish between two primary populations, a slow population, in which contrast clearance from the tissue is slower than contrast accumulation, and a fast population in which clearance is faster than accumulation;
a registration unit having a circuit for carrying out registration between corresponding MRI images; and
a smoothing and interpolation unit having a circuit for smoothing a translation matrix resulting from said registration using circular smearing, and interpolating to obtain translation values per pixel; and
an output converting said scans to a displayed subtraction map on which distributions of said two primary populations are distinguished, wherein a distribution of said fast population corresponds to a tumoral tissue region and a distribution of said slow population corresponds to a non-tumoral tissue region;
wherein said control is configured to carry out said first scan at said beginning of said predetermined time interval, and to carry out said second scan at said end of said predetermined time interval.