Patent ID: 9636422
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61K

Claim:
1. A computerized method for detecting a brain region with neurodegenerative change and also a brain-region with vascular change in the brain of a patient, the computerized method comprising: recording a positron emission data record of the brain via positron emission tomography and a magnetic resonance data record of the brain via magnetic resonance imaging, the recording of the positron emission data record and the magnetic resonance data record being carried out one of in succession without repositioning the patient, or simultaneously; reconstructing a PET image from the positron emission data record and an MRI image from the magnetic resonance data record; identifying evidence for a brain region with vascular change in the MRI image; segmenting the MRI image into gray matter and white matter; identifying a brain region with neurodegenerative change in the PET image; and superposing, in response to observing a changed brain region in the PET image, the PET image and the segmented MRI image to determine whether the identified brain region with neurodegenerative change is present in gray matter or in white matter.