Patent ID: 7693320

Claim:
A method of providing a malignancy classification for a region of lung tissue, the method comprising: setting time points T 1 and T 2 measured from a time point T 0 at or near an injection of a contrast agent, T 1 representing a wash-in time point for malignant lung tissue at which a first concentration value of the injected contrast agent is substantially equal to or near a peak for injected contrast agent concentration for the malignant lung tissue, wherein at t 2 a second concentration value of the injected contrast agent for the malignant lung tissue is less than or substantially equal to the first concentration value at T 1 , and a third concentration value of the injected contrast agent for non-malignant lung tissue at T 1 is less than or substantially equal to a fourth concentration value of the injected contrast agent concentration for the non-malignant lung tissue at T 2; wherein the setting of the time points T 1 and T 2 is determined from degree of changes in concentration values in the region of the lung tissue between time points T 1 and T 2 satisfying a preselected condition based on a maximum intensity predicated on microvascular permeability and extracellular volume of the region of lung tissue; obtaining a first sample concentration value of the contrast agent for the region of lung tissue at T 1 and a second sample concentration value of the contrast agent for the region of lung tissue at T2; determining a malignancy classification for the region of lung tissue by comparing the obtained sample concentration values with a predetermined malignancy profile; and outputting a visual representation of the malignancy classification of the region of lung tissue.