DETECTION OF IMMOBILIZED CONTRAST AGENT IN MEDICAL IMAGING APPLICATIONS BASED ON FLOW DYNAMICS ANALYSIS

摘要

A system (1300) for facilitating the detection of an immobilized contrast agent in medical imaging applications is proposed. The system includes means (1303-1306) for providing a sequence of a total number of input images obtained at corresponding acquisition instants by imaging a body-part (155) of a patient subjected to an administration of a contrast agent capable of circulating within the patient and of being substantially immobilized on a biological target, each input image including a plurality of input values each one indicative of a response to an interrogation signal of a corresponding portion of the body-part possibly including said contrast agent, and means (1309-1369) for reducing a contribution of the circulating contrast agent within the body-part in at least one selected input image; the means for reducing includes means (1309-1369) for creating a filtered image corresponding to each selected input image by replacing a set of input values of the selected input image with a set of corresponding filtered values, each filtered value being representative of the lowest response of the corresponding portion of the body- part in a set of multiple input images including the selected input image, the set of multiple input images consisting of a number of input images lower than the total number.