US 6,983,180 B2
Method of determining and displaying a helical artifact index
Thomas L. Toth, Brookfield, Wis. (US); and Piero Simoni, New Berlin, Wis. (US)
Assigned to General Electric Company, Milwaukee, Wis. (US)
Filed on Oct. 18, 2002, as Appl. No. 10/65,450.
Application 10/065450 is a division of application No. 09/682914, filed on Oct. 31, 2001, granted, now 6,680,995.
Prior Publication US 2003/0083565 A1, May 01, 2003
Int. Cl. A61B 6/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 600—407 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of generating an artifact score, the method comprising:
acquiring imaging data of a subject, the imaging data including a plurality of pixels;
partitioning the plurality of pixels into a first set and a second set, wherein the step of partitioning includes the step of generating a mask from the plurality of pixels and wherein the step of generating a mask further comprises the step of identifying a set of pixels within a range of an expected uniform material value;
determining an artifact index (AI), wherein the step of determining includes:
initializing the first set to a base value;
comparing the first set to the second set;
squaring each pixel of the second set of pixels;
summing the squared pixels;
dividing the summation by a mask pixel count to yield a quotient; and
modifying the quotient by a scalar, wherein the scalar is determined by statistically correlating trained observers responses to a reconstructed image of the imaging data; and
visually conveying the AI.