Patent ID: 9538971
Date: 2017-01-10
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A device for characterizing atherosclerotic plaque, the device comprising: a multi-energy x-ray source including at least three x-rays with different energies; a detector configured to detect a plurality of x-rays emitted by the multi-energy x-ray source after passage through a blood vessel of a human subject including the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein the detector is further configured to (i) simultaneously count photons of at least three different energy levels, and (ii) generate aggregated spectral information corresponding to the detected plurality of x-rays; and a computer operably coupled to the detector and configured to decompose the aggregated spectral information to identify and quantify one or more components of the atherosclerotic plaque, wherein decomposing the aggregated spectral information comprises: