January 5, 2012 – During RSNA 2011, TeraRecon Inc. demonstrated a suite of innovative tools for its iNtuition solution to support new applications for volumetric acquisition modalities, such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR) and positron emission tomography (PET).
“Today, certain volumetric modalities such as CT have reached a kind of plateau, a level of maturity where core applications like CT angiography are robust, well-established, and for the most part, fully evolved,” said Robert Taylor, Ph.D., TeraRecon president and chief executive officer. “However, tremendous potential remains to push forward the application of volumetric tools such as CT, MR and PET to achieve new insights and additional benefits, from the same acquisition, through the application of more advanced analytical tools, such as those now offered by iNtuition.”
· Lobular Decomposition is an analysis and segmentation tool that is designed with anatomical structures in mind. For any structure or organ region which is intertwined with a tree-like structure (such as an arterial and/or venous tree), the Lobular Decomposition tool allows the user to select the volume of interest, as well as the trees related to it, and to partition the volume into lobes or territories that are most proximal to the tree or any specific sub-branch thereof. This generic and flexible tool has potential research applications in analysis of the liver, lung, heart and various other organs and pathological structures.
· Volumetric Histogram supports analysis of a given volume of interest based on partition of the constituent voxels into populations of different intensity or density ranges. This can be used, for example, to support research into disease processes such as cancer (where it is desirable to analyze the composition of tumors, in an attempt to understand the balance between active tumor, necrotic tissue and edema), or emphysema (where the population of low-attenuation voxels in a lung CT examination may be a meaningful indicator of early disease).
· Motion Analytics provides a powerful 2-D representation of a 4-D process for more effective communication of findings when interactive 3-D or 4-D display is not available. Any dynamic volume acquisition, such as a beating heart, can be subjected to the Motion Analysis, to generate a color-coded “trail” of outlines of key boundaries throughout the dynamic sequence, allowing a single 2-D frame to capture and illustrate the motion in a manner that can be readily reported. The uniformity of the color pattern, or lack thereof, reflects the extent to which motion is harmonic, providing immediate visual feedback from a single image.
· Multi-KV: Support for Dual Energy and Spectral Imaging provides support for established applications of dual energy or spectral imaging CT data, such as removal of bone or contrast, as well as toolkits to support research and investigation of new applications of such imaging techniques.
· Enhanced multi-modality support is offered, including support for PET or MR fusion, and improved applications for MR such as time-intensity analysis and parametric mapping tools, which may be applied in the study of perfusion characteristics of normal or cancerous tissue.
· Findings Workflow supports progressive analysis of serial acquisitions for the same patient. Each finding can be tracked across multiple examinations in a table that is maintained indefinitely in the iNtuition system’s database, without requiring the prior scans to remain present on the system. Measurement data and key images are captured and retained, allowing new scans to be placed in context with prior results, and reports to be produced at any time. Support for response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) 1.1 is included, although the tool may readily be used for analysis of various progressive conditions, not only those related to oncology. Export using the Annotation and Image Markup (AIM) XML Schema is supported.
· iGENTLE ensures that iNtuition’s powerful suite of segmentation, centerline, and metadata extraction tools continue to work effectively, even with noisy scans characterized by low-dose acquisitions. Metadata are extracted from enhanced copies of the original scan and then applied back onto the original, unmodified data to improve performance of 3-D tools without denying access to the original scan results.
iNtuition is available as an enterprise software license including highly scalable and flexible server-based deployments, providing powerful advanced tools to physicians and researchers while offering enterprise-wide, zero-footprint web access to findings and results through iNtuitionEMAV – enterprise medical advanced viewer – which integrates with the Visiting Nurses Association VNA, electronic medical records (EMR), radiology information systems (RIS) and picture archiving communications systems (PACS) with a zero-footprint web or mobile viewer that delivers meaningful access to advanced imaging procedures, enterprise-wide.
For more information: www.terarecon.com