System and method for instant and automatic border detection
The invention generally relates to medical imaging systems that instantly and/or automatically detect borders. Embodiments of the invention provide an imaging system that automatically detects a border at a location within a vessel in response only to navigational input moving the image to that location. In some embodiments, systems and methods of the invention operate such that when a doctor moves an imaging catheter to a new location with in tissue, the system essentially instantly finds, and optionally displays, the border(s), calculates an occlusion, or both.
1. A system comprising:
an imaging catheter comprising an image capture device at a distal portion of the imaging catheter, wherein the imaging catheter is configured to capture, via the image capture device, imaging data associated with a vessel of a patient while the imaging catheter, including the image capture device, is positioned within the vessel, wherein the vessel comprises a vessel wall comprising a luminal border and a medial-adventitial border; and
a processing system operably coupled to the imaging catheter, the processing system comprising a processor coupled to a memory and a display device in communication with the processor, wherein the processing system is configured to:
receive, with the processor, the imaging data;
generate, with the processor, a plurality of cross-sectional image frames of the vessel based on the imaging data, wherein each of the plurality of cross-sectional image frames is a two-dimensional image frame;
for each of the plurality of cross-sectional image frames:
automatically detect, with the processor, a location of a vessel wall border of the vessel wall, wherein the vessel wall border comprises at least one of the luminal border or the medial-adventitial border;
determine an outline of the vessel wall border based on the detected location of the vessel wall border; and
store the outline of the vessel wall border in the memory;
receive, at the processor, a navigational input to navigate sequentially through the plurality of cross-sectional image frames;
sequentially display, with the display device, the plurality of cross-sectional image frames in a manner representing motion through the vessel, while the navigational input is received; and
in response to a cessation of the navigational input:
stop the sequential display of the plurality of cross-sectional image frames at a target cross-sectional image frame, wherein the target cross-sectional image frame is a cross-sectional image frame, of the sequentially displayed plurality of cross-sectional image frames, that was being displayed at the time of the cessation of the navigational input;
retrieve, from the memory, the outline of the vessel wall border for the target cross-sectional image frame; and
display, with the display device, the target cross-sectional image frame and the outline of the vessel wall border overlaid on the vessel in the target cross-sectional image frame.
2. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the processing system further comprises a computer pointing device, and
wherein, to receive the navigational input, the processing system is configured to:
receive a user input from a user via the computer pointing device; and
communicate the user input, as the navigational input, from the computer pointing device to the processor.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein, to detect the location of the vessel wall border, the processing system is configured to:
perform, with the processor, a detection algorithm.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein, to detect the location of the vessel wall border, the processing system is further configured to:
determine, with the processor, an occlusion of the vessel.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein to determine the occlusion, the processing system is configured to:
compare the luminal border of the vessel to the medial-adventitial border of the vessel.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein, to detect the location of the vessel wall border, the processing system is configured to:
approximate the vessel wall border within a first cross-sectional image frame;
identify at least one control point on the vessel wall border;
extrapolate the at least one control point to approximate a second vessel wall border in a second cross-sectional image frame; and
adjust the second vessel wall border in accordance with a frequency factor.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:
select, with the processor, a cross-sectional image frame from the plurality of cross-sectional image frames.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:
display, with the display device, the outline of the vessel wall border in the selected cross-sectional image frame.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is operably coupled to a proximal portion of the imaging catheter.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image capture device comprises an optical coherence tomography (OCT) device or an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) device.