Method for characterizing the development of pathologies involving changes in volumes of bodies, notably tumors

摘要

A method for quantifying the development of pathologies involving changes in volume of a body represented via an imaging technique, including normalizing gray levels by a midway technique for two images I1 and I2 representing the same scene, resulting in two normalized images I′1 and I′2; calculating a map of signed differences between the two normalized images I′1 and I′2; and performing one or more statistical tests based on the assumption of a Gaussian distribution of the gray levels for healthy tissues in the normalized images I′1 and I′2 and/or in the calculated difference map. Advantageously, results of two or more of the tests can be combined for a more specific characterization of the development.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for characterizing a development of pathologies involving changes in volume of a body, the method comprising:
receiving, from a magnetic resonance imaging device, two images I1 and I2 representing the same anatomical part of the body at two successive times; determining, using a computer, a midway cumulative histogram of gray levels common to the two images I1 and I2, wherein said midway cumulative histogram is equal to an inverse of a geometric mean of inverses of cumulative histograms of gray levels for the two images I1 and I2; normalizing, using the computer, gray levels by applying the midway cumulative histogram to the two images I1 and I2 resulting in two normalized images I′1 and I′2, respectively; calculating, using the computer, a map of signed differences between the two normalized images I′1 and I′2; performing, using the computer, one or more statistical tests, including a first test based on an assumption of a Gaussian distribution of gray levels for healthy tissues of the anatomical part of the body in the normalized images I′1 and I′2 or in the calculated difference map; and characterizing, using the computer, the development of pathologies based on said performed one or more statistical tests.