Patent Document ID: 20130335441
Application ID: 13507222
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method comprising the steps of: generating a first parametric map, the first parametric map being based upon at least a portion of each of at least two optoacoustic images, each of the at least two optoacoustic images reflecting at least a portion of an optoacoustic response of a volume of tissue to a different light event, at least one of the different light events having a shorter predominant wavelength than at least one other of the different light events, the first parametric map being reflective of areas within at least a portion of the volume of tissue, which areas have a difference in absorption in response to the longer wavelength light event compared to the shorter wavelength light event; generating a second parametric map, the second parametric map being based upon at least a portion of the each of at least two optoacoustic images, the second parametric map being reflective of areas within at least a portion of the volume of tissue having stronger absorption in response to the longer and shorter wavelength light events than to other areas within the at least a portion of the volume of tissue; generating a mask reflective of a combination of information in the first parametric map and information in the second parametric map, the mask used to exclude areas of an image; generating a masked parametric map by applying the mask to an auxiliary map, thus forming a new parametric map, the auxiliary map being selected from the group consisting of: the first parametric map, the second parametric map, an additional parametric map, and an image; and outputting the masked parametric map.