US 12,217,426 B2
Method and system for measuring a maturation stage using MRI
Gian Franco Piredda, Ecublens (CH); Tobias Kober, Lausanne (CH); Tom Hilbert, Lausanne (CH); and Lars Lauer, Neunkirchen (DE)
Assigned to Siemens Healthineers AG, Erlangen (DE)
Filed by SIEMENS HEALTHCARE GMBH, Erlangen (DE)
Filed on Mar. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/207,963.
Claims priority of application No. 20164377 (EP), filed on Mar. 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0295521 A1, Sep. 23, 2021
Int. Cl. G06T 7/00 (2017.01); A61B 5/055 (2006.01)
CPC G06T 7/0016 (2013.01) [A61B 5/055 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10088 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20081 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20084 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30016 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for measuring a maturation stage of a biological subject organ based on quantitative MR (Magnetic Resonance) maps for the organ, the method comprising:
acquiring with a first interface and for a subject, several quantitative MR maps of different types for the organ, the quantitative MR map including voxels each characterized by a quantitative value, the quantitative value of each voxel representing a quantitative measurement of a physical or physiological property, being a physical parameter, of a tissue of the biological organ for the voxel;
applying to each of the acquired quantitative MR maps a segmentation process configured for segmenting the biological organ into different regions each characterized by a single organ tissue type;
using the several quantitative MR maps as input to a trained function to estimate the subject organ maturation stage, the trained function being configured to calculate a characteristic quantitative value for each region of the organ within each of the quantitative MR maps, the trained function being trained for estimating the organ maturation stage from the characteristic quantitative value determined for each region or a set of preferred regions, the trained function outputting an age;
the segmentation process being applied before applying the trained function; and
providing with a second interface the maturation stage of the organ of the subject as being the output age.