Method and system for image processing of intravascular hemodynamics

Abstract

[Solution] The method for image processing of intravascular hemodynamics according to the present invention is characterized by shooting video using infrared light, wherein the object of shooting is a portion of a blood vessel injected with a standard amount of a fluorescent contrast agent; performing image analysis of a shape of a chronological change curve of intensity values which are image outputs from the video shooting; and calculating relative data for blood volume and blood flow based on results of the image analysis.

1 .- 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . A method for acquisition and processing of intravascular hemodynamics images, comprising:
 shooting video using infrared light, wherein the object of shooting is a portion of a blood vessel injected with a fluorescent contrast agent, and the video is shot by a camera through a microscope during surgery;   performing image analysis of image outputs from the video shooting to determine a chronological change curve of intensity values of the image outputs from the video shooting;   calculating relative data for blood volume or relative data for blood flow based on the chronological change curve resulting from the image analysis;   calculating quantitative data for blood volume or quantitative data for blood flow based on the relative data for blood volume or the relative data for blood flow;   wherein the relative data for blood volume is calculated based on an integral value from the chronological change curve or the relative data for blood flow is calculated based on the integral value from the chronological change curve and a centroid of an area under the chronological change curve.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of calculating quantitative data for blood volume or quantitative data for blood flow comprises matching operating conditions of the camera and/or the microscope and the relative data. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the operating conditions comprise at least one of: a sensitivity of the camera, a magnification of the microscope, a working distance of the microscope, an angle of the microscope, and an amount of fluorescent contrast administered. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the method is performed without measuring blood flow using an electromagnetic blood flow meter. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising generating an analysis image from the quantitative data for blood volume or the quantitative data for blood flow. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising generating an analysis video from the quantitative data for blood volume or the quantitative data for blood flow. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 shooting video of the portion of the blood vessel using natural light to generate output images; and   fusing the output images of the video shot using natural light with the analysis image.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the fluorescent contrast agent is indocyanin green. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the fluorescent contrast agent is fluorescein. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising:
 converting the relative data for blood flow to quantitative data using a quantification conversion formula BF=Kbf*rBF or converting the relative data for blood volume to quantitative data using a quantification conversion formula BV=Kbf*rBV;   wherein BF represents quantitative blood flow, Kbf represents a quantification conversion coefficient, rBF represents relative blood flow, BV represents quantitative blood volume, and rBV represents relative blood volume.   
     
     
         23 . A system for acquisition and processing of intravascular hemodynamics images, comprising:
 a surgical microscope;   an infrared imaging device for shooting video images through the surgical microscope, using infrared light, of a portion of a blood vessel injected with a fluorescent contrast agent; and   an image analysis device configured to perform an image analysis of image outputs from the video images shot by the infrared imaging device to determine a chronological change curve of intensity values of the image outputs, and to calculate relative data for blood volume or relative data for blood flow based on the chronological change curve resulting from the image analysis;   wherein the image analysis device is configured to calculate the relative data for blood volume based on an integral value from the chronological change curve or to calculate the relative data for blood flow based on the integral value from the chronological change curve and a centroid of an area under the chronological change curve.   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the image analysis device is configured to match operating conditions of the infrared imaging device and/or the microscope and the relative data to calculate the quantitative data for blood volume or the quantitative data for blood flow. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the operating conditions comprise at least one of: a sensitivity of the infrared imaging device, a magnification of the microscope, a working distance of the microscope, an angle of the microscope, and an amount of fluorescent contrast administered. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the system is without an electromagnetic blood flow meter for measuring blood flow. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the image analysis device is configured to generate an analysis image from the quantitative data for blood volume or the quantitative data for blood flow. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the image analysis device is configured to generate an analysis video from the quantitative data for blood volume or the quantitative data for blood flow. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 27 , further comprising a natural light imaging device for shooting video images of the portion of the blood vessel using natural light to generate output images, wherein the image analysis device is configured to fuse the output images of the video shot using natural light with the analysis image. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the fluorescent contrast agent is indocyanin green. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the fluorescent contrast agent is fluorescein. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the image analysis device is configured to convert the relative data for blood flow to quantitative data using a quantification conversion formula BF=Kbf*rBF or to convert the relative data for blood volume to quantitative data using a quantification conversion formula BV=Kbf*rBV;
 wherein BF represents quantitative blood flow, Kbf represents a quantification conversion coefficient, rBF represents relative blood flow, BV represents quantitative blood volume, and rBV represents relative blood volume.