Patent Document ID: 20140301619
Application ID: 14205005
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for providing support in grading of one or more features of an optoacoustic image of a volume of tissue, wherein the volume of tissue comprises a tumor having a hypoechoic central nidus, the method comprising: obtaining an ultrasound image of the volume of tissue, the ultrasound image presenting at least part of the hypoechoic central nidus and at least part of a peritumoral region; obtaining an optoacoustic image of the volume of tissue, the optoacoustic image being coregistered with the ultrasound image and presenting at least a portion of the part of the hypoechoic central nidus and at least a portion of the part of the peritumoral region; identifying on the ultrasound image a tumoral boundary curve, the tumoral boundary curve approximating at least a portion of a perimeter of the hypoechoic central nidus of the tumor; identifying on the ultrasound image a peritumoral boundary curve, the peritumoral boundary curve approximating at least a portion of a periphery of the peritumoral region of the tumor, wherein an outer portion of the periphery of the peritumoral region is spatially separate from the perimeter of the hypoechoic central nidus of the tumor, and wherein at least part of the peritumoral boundary curve corresponds to at least part of the outer portion of the periphery of the peritumoral region and is spatially separate from the tumoral boundary curve; presenting on a display at least a portion of the optoacoustic image with the tumoral boundary curve and the peritumoral boundary curve superimposed thereon; defining a boundary zone within the displayed image based on the tumoral boundary curve and the peritumoral boundary curve and corresponding to at least part of the portion of the part of the peritumoral region of the tumor; and obtaining an operator feature score for at least one peritumoral feature contained at least partially within the boundary zone; calculating by computer one or more computer-generated feature scores for the at least one peritumoral feature, based at least in part on information falling within the boundary zone; obtaining one or more supplementary inputs from the operator if the operator feature score differs from at least one of the one or more computer-generated feature scores; and determining a grade for the at least one peritumoral feature based on the operator feature score.