Patent ID: 8491482

Claim:
A method of non-invasive quantification of perfusion in a tissue of a live subject, comprising: receiving with a computing device a sequence of echo signals indicative of a replenishment of an imaging contrast agent in said tissue following a destruction of a significant portion of the imaging contrast agent; associating with the computing device a parametric S-shape function of time with the echo signals, said S-shape function including an initial portion with a constant initial value and a zero first derivative over a non-zero period of time following the destruction of the imaging contrast agent, a final portion with a constant final value and a zero first derivative, and a central portion between the initial portion and the final portion wherein said S-shape function changes monotonically from the initial value to the final value; and making a correspondence with the computing device between at least one value of at least one parameter of said S-shape function and at least one local tissue perfusion flow value or flow attribute.