Patent ID: 7149331

Claim:
A method for improving coronary calcium scoring of an image scan comprising a plurality of slice images, the method comprising: applying an automatic search algorithm to at least one slice image to calculate an individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image; applying the individualized signal threshold to the at least one slice image to identify calcium therein; and selecting a region of interest in the at least one slice image in one or more areas that cannot have calcium, wherein the automatic search algorithm is applied to the region of interest to calculate the individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image, wherein applying the automatic search algorithm comprises: selecting a lesion criteria, the lesion criteria comprising an acceptable number N of false positives that can be located in the region of interest; applying a first signal threshold HU 1 to the region of interest to locate false positives that have signal higher than the first signal threshold HU 1 ; counting the number of false positives located in the region of interest with the first signal threshold HU 1 ; comparing N with the number of false positives located in the region of interest with the first signal threshold HU 1 ; and adjusting the first signal threshold HU 1 until the number of false positives in the region of interest is less than or equal to N, wherein the individualized signal threshold for the at least one slice image is set substantially close to an adjusted signal threshold HU in which the number of false positives is less than or equal to N.