APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR QUANTIFYING SPECIFIC SUBSTANCE IN LIVING BODY

摘要

A system and method is disclosed for utilizing image pixel value information generated by a digital radiographic system for quantifying the amount of calcium in a particular object of interest within a subject, wherein the subject also contains additional quantities of calcium located at positions such that the additional calcium interfers with the acquisition of data describing the object of interest. A cursor configured as a parallelogram is described and pixel values are summed along lines parallel to the sides of the parallelogram. A profile is generated from these summations. A portion of the profile corresponding to pixel lines not intersecting the object of interest is used to estimate the contribution of background and other calcium to the profile as a whole, and this estimated value is subtracted from the total profile. Integration of the remainder of the profile provides a scalar value corresponding to the amount of calcium in the object of interest.