Patent ID: 8285490
Filing Date: 2012-10-09
Classification: A61B,G06F,G16B,G16H

Abstract:
1. A method of estimating blood perfusion indices, for a region of interest (ROI) by operating a computer program on intensity data input to a computer comprising: a. providing a contrast agent to an artery, wherein said artery is upstream from a region of interest (ROI), wherein said ROI comprises tissue; b. measuring intensity data to provide a tissue contrast agent curve C(t) in said tissue, wherein said C(t) is a known intensity profile measured against time; c. measuring an arterial input function AIF d. estimating a tissue blood flow F e. determining a blood flow rate F  wherein the initial value of a delay time t f. measuring an arterial input function AIF g. simulating a tissue contrast agent concentration curve C  wherein, said  for t≧t h. using an iterative least squares method to fit the said simulated C i. using a model-free deconvolution method to estimate starting values of said adjustable parameters for said iterative least squares fitting process in order to derive optimized values of said adjustable parameters; and j. calculating perfusion indices from the said optimized values of the adjustable parameters.