Patent ID: 7903853

Claim:
In a computer system comprising at least one input device, at least one processor, and at least one output device, a method of identifying noise in image data obtained from enhancing tissue, comprising: by means of at least one input device, receiving input data comprising a pre-contrast signal intensity value I 0 for a plurality of pixels of the image data; by means of at least one processor, determining, for each pre-contrast signal intensity value I 0 , a pixel count N of pixels having said pre-contrast signal intensity value, by means of at least one processor, determining a pre-contrast signal intensity value, I peak , corresponding to a pixel count of a greatest number of pixels, N peak , in the image data; setting a pre-contrast noise threshold at a signal intensity value, I noise , corresponding to a pixel count, N I , determined based on N peak ; by means of at least one processor, identifying in the image data one or more pixels with pre-contrast signal intensity values below the pre-contrast noise threshold; by means of at least one processor, processing post-contrast data associated with at least some pixels with pre-contrast signal intensity values above the pre-contrast noise threshold; and by means of at least one output device, outputting processed post-contrast data associated with said pixels having pre-contrast signal intensity values above the pre-contrast noise threshold.