Granted Patent B2

US 12,688,583 · App. 18/548,951 · Granted Jul 21, 2026

Inventors: Guillermo J. Tearney (Cambridge, MA); Girish Gududappanavar Nagarajappa (Thyavanige, IN); David Odeke Otuya (Revere, MA)

Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation

G06T7/0012G06T2207/10056G06T2207/30028

Abstract

Claims (58)

1 . A method for identifying an intestinal disorder in a subject, comprising:

obtaining an image of a small intestinal region of the subject;

identifying a plurality of villus structures in the image;

measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a metric, comprising:

measuring at least one feature based on each of the plurality of identified villus structures to obtain a respective plurality of metric values, and

obtaining an average of the plurality of metric values; and

identifying an intestinal disorder based on the metric, comprising:

identifying an intestinal disorder based on the average of the plurality of metric values.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying an intestinal disorder based on the metric further comprises:

identifying celiac disease based on the metric.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining an image of a small intestinal region of the subject further comprises:

obtaining an image of a small intestinal region of the subject using at least one of a tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE) device or a trans-nasal imaging tube (TNIT) device.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein obtaining an image of a small intestinal region of the subject using at least one of a tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE) device or a trans-nasal imaging tube (TNIT) device further comprises:

obtaining obtain interferometric imaging data from a small intestinal region of the subject using at least one of a tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE) device or a trans-nasal imaging tube (TNIT) device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a metric further comprises:

measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain at least one of a morphometric feature or a texture metric.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain at least one of a morphometric feature or a texture metric further comprises:

measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a morphometric feature comprising at least one of a height of the villus structure or a width of the villus structure, or

measuring at least one feature based on pixel grayscale values of the identified villus structure to obtain a texture metric.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying an intestinal disorder based on the metric further comprises:

comparing the metric to a reference value that is determined based on metrics obtained from a subject having with a known disease status,

identifying an intestinal disorder based on comparing the metric to the reference value.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying a villus structure in the image further comprises:

identifying the villus structure in the image by segmenting the image.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a metric further comprises:

measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain morphometric features comprising a height of the villus structure and a width of the villus structure, and

measuring at least one feature based on pixel grayscale values of the identified villus structure to obtain texture metrics comprising mean intensity, contrast, correlation, energy, entropy, variance, and homogeneity.

10 . A system for identifying an intestinal disorder in a subject, comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory, the processor being configured to:

obtain an image of a small intestinal region of the subject using tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE);

identify a villus structure in the image;

measure at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a metric comprising:

measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain morphometric features comprising a height of the villus structure and a width of the villus structure, and

measuring at least one feature based on pixel grayscale values of the identified villus structure to obtain texture metrics comprising mean intensity, contrast, correlation, energy, entropy, variance, and homogeneity; and

identify an intestinal disorder based on the metric.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, when identifying an intestinal disorder based on the metric, is further configured to:

identify celiac disease based on the metric.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, when obtaining an image of a small intestinal region of the subject, is further configured to:

obtain an image of a small intestinal region of the subject using at least one of a tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE) device or a trans-nasal imaging tube (TNIT) device.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor, when obtaining an image of a small intestinal region of the subject using at least one of a tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE) device or a trans-nasal imaging tube (TNIT) device, is further configured to:

obtain interferometric imaging data from a small intestinal region of the subject using at least one of a tethered capsule endomicroscopy (TCE) device or a trans-nasal imaging tube (TNIT) device.

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, when measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a metric, is further configured to:

measure at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain at least one of a morphometric feature or a texture metric.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor, when measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain at least one of a morphometric feature or a texture metric, is further configured to:

measure at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a morphometric feature comprising at least one of a height of the villus structure or a width of the villus structure, or

measure at least one feature based on pixel grayscale values of the identified villus structure to obtain a texture metric.

16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, when identifying an intestinal disorder based on the metric, is further configured to:

compare the metric to a reference value that is determined based on metrics obtained from a subject having with a known disease status,

identify an intestinal disorder based on comparing the metric to the reference value.

17 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, when identifying a villus structure in the image, is further configured to:

identify the villus structure in the image by segmenting the image.

18 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor, when identifying a villus structure in the image, is further configured to:

identify a plurality of villus structures in the image,

wherein the processor, when measuring at least one feature based on the identified villus structure to obtain a metric, is further configured to:

measure at least one feature based on each of the plurality of identified villus structures to obtain a respective plurality of metric values, and

obtain an average of the plurality of metric values, and

wherein the processor, when identifying an intestinal disorder based on the metric, is further configured to:

identify an intestinal disorder based on the average of the plurality of metric values.

Continuity (2)

References Cited (30)