Patent ID: 6560476
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: A61B,G01R,G06T

Abstract:
An orthopedic magnetic resonance imaging system, comprising:a source of magnetic resonance imaging data sets resulting from successive magnetic resonance imaging acquisitions from a diseased joint of a patient, a segmentation module responsive to the source of magnetic resonance imaging data sets and operative to segment surfaces in the joint based on information contained within at least one of the data sets, a registration module responsive to the source of magnetic resonance imaging data sets and operative to spatially register, in three dimensions, information represented by a first of the data sets with respect to information represented by one or more further data sets for the same patient, a comparison module responsive to the registration module and operative to detect differences between information represented by the data sets caused by progression of the disease in the joint of the patient between acquisitions, and a cross-patient comparison module responsive to the comparison module to compare detected differences for the patient with detected differences for at least one other patient.