Patent Document ID: 7949164
Application ID: 11912554
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of providing a malignancy classification based on MRI data for a region of lung tissue, the method comprising: setting time points T1 and T2 measured from a time point To at or near an injection of a contrast agent, T1 representing a wash-in time point as detected by MRI 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 T2 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 T1, and a third concentration value of the injected contrast agent for non-malignant lung tissue at T1 is less than or substantially equal to a fourth concentration value of the injected contrast agent concentration for the non-malignant lung tissue at T2; obtaining a first sample concentration value of the contrast agent for the region of lung tissue at TI 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 representation of the malignancy classification of the region of lung tissue, wherein the second concentration value is greater than the fourth concentration value.