Granted Patent B2

US 12,186,055 · App. 17/656,872 · Granted Jan 7, 2025

Inventors: T. Bruce Ferguson, Jr. (Raleigh, NC); Cheng Chen (Greenville, NC)

Assignee: Stryker Corporation

A61B5/0071A61B5/0261A61B5/0275A61K49/0034A61B2505/05A61B2576/023G06T7/0016G06T2207/10064G06T2207/30104

Abstract

Claims (19)

1. A method for visualizing and quantifying blood flow in tissue, the method comprising at a computing system comprising one or more processors and memory storing one or more computer programs that include computer instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to:

receive a first sequence of fluorescence images of the tissue comprising at least one full phase angiography cycle of blood flow through the tissue;

calculate fluorescence intensities of the first sequence of fluorescence images;

receive a second sequence of fluorescence images of the tissue comprising at least one full phase angiography cycle of blood flow through the tissue;

calculate fluorescence intensities of the second sequence of fluorescence images;

align at least a portion of the full phase angiography cycle of the first sequence of fluorescence images with a corresponding portion of the full phase angiography cycle of the second sequence of fluorescence images;

determine, in real time, an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the calculated fluorescence intensities of the aligned full phase angiography cycles of the first and second sequences of fluorescence images; and

display, in real time, the determined amount of perfusion change on a display.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating fluorescence intensities of the first and second sequences of fluorescence images comprises calculating peak fluorescence intensities of average intensity vs. time curves of the first and second sequences of fluorescence images.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising synchronizing the first and second sequence of fluorescence images based on peak fluorescence intensities of average intensity vs. time curves of the first and second sequence of fluorescence images to align at least the portion of the full phase angiography cycle of the first sequence of fluorescence images with the corresponding portion of the full phase angiography cycle of the second sequence of fluorescence images.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the calculated fluorescence intensities comprises determining an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the synchronized image sequences.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the full phase angiography cycle of blood flow comprises an arterial phase, a microvascular phase, and a venous phase.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein synchronizing the first and second sequence of fluorescence images comprises correlating, between the first and second sequence of fluorescence images, at least one of the arterial phase, microvascular phase, and venous phase.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein synchronizing the first and second sequence of fluorescence images comprises calculating a correlation coefficient at each alignment time position and synchronizing the first and second sequence of fluorescence images based on the largest correlation coefficient.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the synchronized image sequences comprises comparing relative fluorescence intensity between the synchronized image sequences.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the synchronized image sequences comprises estimating a change of baseline fluorescence intensity difference over the synchronized image sequences, and adjusting the synchronized image sequences based on the change in baseline fluorescence intensity.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the synchronized image sequences comprises estimating perfusion level based on average fluorescence intensity above a threshold.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining an amount of perfusion change in the tissue based on the synchronized image sequences comprises estimating a number of image pixels having fluorescence intensity above the threshold.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tissue is at least one selected from the group consisting of myocardium during revascularization, breast tissue during reconstruction, limb tissue during vascular surgery, and bowel tissue during anastomosis.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (400)