Patent ID: 9414798
Filing Date: 2016-08-16
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A method for bolus tracking, comprising: acquiring one or more baseline images; automatically establishing trigger regions within each of the one or more baseline images by determining an anatomical context of a volume of interest and automatically cross-referencing the anatomical context to the trigger regions; administering a bolus; monitoring the automatically established trigger regions for bolus arrival at the trigger regions; forecasting first and second bolus arrival times at the volume of interest based on the bolus arrival at first and second of the trigger regions; automatically calculating first and second confidence scores corresponding to the first and second of the trigger regions, wherein each of the first and second confidence scores represents a level of certainty associated with an ability of a corresponding trigger region to accurately predict the bolus arrival within the volume of interest based on identification of the bolus within the corresponding trigger region; forecasting a third bolus arrival time at the volume of interest based on an average of the first and second bolus arrival times weighted in proportion to the confidence scores; and acquiring a diagnostic scan of the volume of interest at the forecasted third bolus arrival time.