Image Enhancement Technology Ltd

Applications

This cutting-edge technique permits accurate image edge-detection and enhancement, with many medical and non-medical applications.

Medical Applications identified include:

Segmenting anatomical structures to aid definition of normal and diseased structures for improved radiological diagnosis, therapy planning and potential microsurgery applications. Accurate distance, area/volume and intensity measurements could aid evaluation of oncological therapy response (refer to all the Examples, and Publications 7, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 17);

Invisible and barely visible minute bone fractures or tear effects were detected and enhanced to become clearly visible for accurate diagnosis and measurement. This has potential application in the treatment planning and the quantitative assessment of the bone healing process in Orthopedics (Examples: MR Knee, CT Bone (femur), CT Bone (humerous), and CT Bone (metatarsal), and Publications 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17);

Enhancement of the high-contrast fracture edges does 'reduce' the effect of the medium-contrast streaking artifact from the steel pin (Examples: CT Bone (femur), and CT Bone (radius));

Use for post-processing to re-analyze existing old images to detect minute and/or low-contrast effects, to avoid further costly re-scans and to improve patient through-put (refer to all the Examples, and Publications 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17);

Elimination of the 'Blooming Effect' caused by the century-old penumbral spread (in CT, X-ray, and PET/NM) or frequency-spread (in MRI) by using a correction algorithm, which results in the enhanced edge-profile to becoming window-level/width independent (Example: CT - Elimination of Blooming Effect, and Publications 10, 13, and 14);

Overcoming the Partial Volume Effect (of varying window-level/width settings) on the true tumour-size observed (Example: CT - Overcoming Partial Volume Effect, and Publications 10, 13, and 14);

Absolute measurements via the Invasive or Non-Invasive Method of calibration in CR, DR or DF (with various surgical and treatment uses, including, for example, the insertion of intravascular stents, angioplasty balloons, and hip replacements) (Examples: DF Leg, CR - Radius of Curvature of Prosthetic Femoral Head, and Publication 16);

Measurement of Radius Curvature of the prosthetic femoral head by using the provided software routines for the selection of custom-made component prior to the actual surgery (Example: CR - Radius of Curvature of Prosthetic Femoral Head, and Publication 16);

Accurate direct or indirect measurement(s) of width of aneurysm of anterior communicating artery in MRI Angiogram Cerebral (Example: MRI Angiogram Cerebral);

Accurate absolute measurements of length and the percentage diameter stenosis of superficial femoral artery for applications, for example, in the insertion of a balloon catheter or the placement of stent coil of exact width and length etc. (Example: DF Leg, and Publications 10, 13, 14, and 16);

Elimination of 'Pixelization Effect' in a zoomed image (all Examples);

Ultra low-contrast edge detection, with or without contrast injection (Example: CT Low-Contrast, and Field Example: TBA);

Enhanced edge-contours in NM/PET scans (Example: NM Heart, and Field Example: TBA);

2D/3D Radiotherapy Treatment Planning - software to export accurate coordinates of outline of tumour edge-contour is available to users (Field Example: TBA);

Becoming the definitive method to detect, define, enhance, and outline low-contrast tumour and other effects' edge-profiles for sensitive and accurate quantitative measurements for all contrast-based imaging modalities (refer to all Examples and Publications listed);

'Quantitative Radiology' is made possible using this CAD based on the technology of a De-Convolution Technique (refer to all Examples and Publications listed).

In summary - Potential applications are in radiological diagnosis, oncological response monitoring, orthodontic radiology, angiography, orthopaedics, digital mammography, ultra-sound, interventional radiology, and radiotherapy treatment planning.

Non-Medical (NDT) Applications identified include:

Veterinary Animals - Equivalent CT, MR, X-ray imaging [CR (Computed Radiography), XA (X-ray Angiography), or DX (Digital Radiography)] may also be applied to veterinary animals (Example: TBA);

Archaeological Artifacts - CT & X-ray imaging of Mummys or any other artifacts may be analyzed using the ASP-NDT package;

Quality & Manufacturing Controls in micro-chip industry - Further enhancement of X-ray image of micro-chip's manufacturing process (Example: X-ray image of chips by Nanodynamics's X-ray tube);

Industrial Components - Including aircraft components, helicopter blades or other hardware components. Quantitative assessment of fatigue fracture within components by X-ray using the absolute calibration procedure (Example: X-ray imaging (CR or DF) of Coins & Wires at different distance levels, with absolute calibration and measurement);

Scanned photography/CCTV images - Enhancement to eliminate the Pixelization Effect (Example: TBA);

Enhance and monitor imperfections or defects in components within a remote area, such as a Nuclear Reactor.

In summary, applications are for the accurate quantitative assessments of enhanced minute defects in industrial components, either introduced by the imperfect manufacturing process, or caused by the mechanical stress and strain.