Patent Document ID: 8792960
Application ID: 12710869
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for automatically analyzing osteoarthritis of a joint, comprising the steps of: with a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, generating a three-dimensional magnetic resonance image data set representing a three-dimensional volume of a predetermined region within a patient, said predetermined region containing at least a portion of a joint of the patient; in a processor, defining a plurality of different planar slices through said predetermined region and identifying a position for each different slice in said plurality of different slices by automatically identifying a predetermined anatomical orientation point for each of said different slices in said three-dimensional magnetic resonance image data set, and selecting the respective positions dependent on the respective predetermined anatomical orientation point; in a processor, from said three-dimensional magnetic resonance image data set, generating, for each respective different slice in said plurality of different slices, a two-dimensional magnetic resonance image as a planar section through said three-dimensional volume; in each respective different slice represented in the respective two-dimensional magnetic resonance images, automatically determining, in said processor, a thickness of a predetermined tissue therein and automatically analyzing a degree of inflammation in said joint dependent on the respective thicknesses, with respect to a reference, of the predetermined tissue in the respective different slices, and generating an analysis result representing said degree of inflammation; in said processor, automatically designating one of said different slices in said joint dependent on a preset parameter representing the position of said one of said different slices; injecting a contrast medium into the patient and thereafter generating a two-dimensional T1-weighted magnetic resonance image of said one of said different slices; in said processor, automatically determining a proteoglycan proportion of said joint from said two-dimensional T1-weighted magnetic resonance image; and in said processor, automatically analyzing a degree of osteoarthritis in said joint, dependent on said degree of inflammation and said proteoglycan proportion, and emitting a representation of said degree of osteoarthritis at an output of said processor.