Abstract: Multiple predictions about the position of an object during a time period may each indicate the position of the object at a respective time during the time period. Respective validity indications corresponding to the multiple predictions may each indicate an accuracy of the corresponding prediction. Whether a change has occurred in a distribution of the predictions from a first subset of predictions to a second subset of predictions during the time period may be determined. If the change has occurred, a prediction from the first subset of predictions or the second subset of predictions may be selected, based on the validity of the predictions and/or the detection of a motion, as a best indication of the position of the object.

Abstract: An apparatus for annotating a medical image may be configured to obtain, automatically, an outline of a region of interest (ROI) in the medical image and determine, based on one or more inner control points and one or more outer control points. The one or more inner control points may be located within the ROI and the one or more outer control points may be located outside of the ROI. The outline may be subsequently adjusted based on a user input and the adjusted outline may be used to generate a segmentation of the ROI.

Abstract: Described herein are machine learning (ML) based on systems, methods, and instrumentalities associated with image search and/or retrieval. An apparatus as described herein may obtain a query image and a textual description associated with the query image, and generate, using an artificial neural network (ANN), a feature representation that may represent the image and the textual description as an associated pair. Based on the feature representation, the apparatus may identify one or more images from an image repository and provide an indication regarding the one or more identified images, for example, as a ranked list.

Abstract: A system for PET image reconstruction is provided. The system may obtain PET data of a subject. The PET data may be associated with a plurality of coincidence events, which includes scattering events. The system may also generate a preliminary scatter sinogram relating to the scattering events based on the PET data. The system may also generate a target scatter sinogram relating to the scattering events by applying a scatter sinogram generator based on the preliminary scatter sinogram. The target scatter sinogram may have a higher image quality than the preliminary scatter sinogram. The system may further reconstruct a target PET image of the subject based on the PET data and the target scatter sinogram.

Abstract: An automated process for data annotation of medical images includes obtaining image data from an imaging sensor, partitioning the image data, identifying an object of interest in the partitioned image data, generating an initial contour with one or more control points with respect to the object of interest, identifying a manual adjustment of one of the control points, automatically adjust a position of at least one other control point within a predetermined range of the manually adjusted control point to a new position, the new position of the at least one other control point and manually adjusted control point defining a new contour, and generating an updated image with the new contour and corresponding control points.

Abstract: An anatomy-aware contouring editing method includes receiving an image, wherein the image represents an anatomically recognizable structure; identifying a first image segment representing part of the anatomically recognizable structure; annotating the first image segment to generate a label of the part; drawing a contour along a boundary of the part; receiving a first input from a user device indicative of a region of contour failure, wherein the region of contour failure includes a portion of a contour that requires editing; editing the contour for generating an edited contour based on the first input and anatomical information; and updating another contour of another part of the anatomically recognizable structure based on the edited contour, wherein the another part is anatomically related to the part.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are deep-learning based systems, methods, and instrumentalities for medical decision-making. A system as described herein may implement an artificial neural network (ANN) that may include multiple encoder neural networks and a decoder neural network. The multiple encoder neural networks may be configured to receive multiple types of patient data (e.g., text and image based patient data) and generate respective encoded representations of the patient data. The decoder neural network (e.g., a transformer decoder) may be configured to receive the encoded representations and generate a medical decision, a medical summary, or a medical questionnaire based on the encoded representations. In examples, the decoder neural network may be configured to implement a large language model (LLM) that may be pre-trained for performing the aforementioned tasks.

Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and instrumentalities associated with automatic determination of hemodynamic characteristics. An apparatus as described may implement a first artificial neural network (ANN) and a second ANN. The first ANN may model a mapping from a set of 3D points associated with one or more blood vessels to a set of hemodynamic characteristics of the one or more blood vessels, while the second ANN may generate, based on a geometric relationship of the set of points in a 3D space, parameters for controlling the mapping. The apparatus may obtain a 3D anatomical model representing at least one blood vessel of a patient based on one or more medical images of the patient, and determine, based on the first ANN and the second ANN, a hemodynamic characteristic of the at least one blood vessel of the patient at a target location of the 3D anatomical model.

Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and instrumentalities associated with image segmentation such as tubular structure segmentation. An artificial neural network is trained to segment tubular structures of interest in a medical scan image based on annotated images of a different type of tubular structures that may have a different contrast and/or appearance from the tubular structures of interest. The training may be conducted in multiple stages during which a segmentation model learned from the annotated images during a first stage may be modified to fit the tubular structures of interest in a second stage. In examples, the tubular structures of interest may include coronary arteries, catheters, guide wires, etc., and the annotated images used for training the artificial neural network may include blood vessels such as retina blood vessels.

Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and instrumentalities associated with medical image enhancement. The medical image may include an object of interest and the techniques disclosed herein may be used to identify the object and enhance a contrast between the object and its surrounding area by adjusting at least the pixels associated with the object. The object identification may be performed using an image filter, a segmentation mask, and/or a deep neural network trained to separate the medical image into multiple layers that respectively include the object of interest and the surrounding area. Once identified, the pixels of the object may be manipulated in various ways to increase the visibility of the object. These may include, for example, adding a constant value to the pixels of the object, applying a sharpening filter to those pixels, increasing the weight of those pixels, and/or smoothing the edge areas surrounding the object of interest.

Abstract: An apparatus for automated collision avoidance includes a sensor configured to detect an object of interest, predicting a representation of the object of interest at a future point in time, calculating an indication of a possibility of a collision with the object of interest based on the representation of the object of interest at the future point in time, and executing a collision avoidance action based on the indication.

Abstract: A human model such as a 3D human mesh may be generated for a person in a medical environment based on one or more images of the person. The images may be captured using a sensing device that may be attached to an existing medical device such as a medical scanner in the medical environment. Such an arrangement may ensure that unblocked views of the person (e.g., body keypoints of the person) may be obtained and used to generate the human model. The position of the medical device in the medical environment may be determined and used to facilitate the human model construction such that the pose and body shape of the person in the medical environment may be accurately represented by the human model.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system and method for fetus monitoring. The method may include obtaining ultrasound data relating to a fetus collected by an ultrasound imaging device; generating a 4D image of the fetus based on the ultrasound data; directing a display component of a virtual reality (VR) device to display the 4D image to an operator; detecting motion of the fetus based on the ultrasound data; and directing a haptic component of the VR device to provide haptic feedback with respect to the motion to the operator.

Abstract: A method for lung nodule evaluation is provided. The method may include obtaining a target image including at least a portion of a lung of a subject. The method may also include segmenting, from the target image, at least one target region each of which corresponds to a lung nodule of the subject. The method may further include generating an evaluation result with respect to the at least one lung nodule based on the at least one target region.

Abstract: An apparatus may obtain a sequence of medical images of a target structure and determine, using a first ANN, a first segmentation and a second segmentation of the target structure based on a first medical image and a second medical image, respectively. The first segmentation may indicate a first plurality of pixels that may belong to the target structure. The second segmentation may indicate a second plurality of pixels that may belong to the target structure. The apparatus may identify, using a second ANN, a first subset of true positive pixels among the first plurality of pixels that may belong to the target structure, and a second subset of true positive pixels among the second plurality of pixels that may belong to the target structure. The apparatus may determine a first refined segmentation and a second refined segmentation of the target structure based on the true positive pixels.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods and instrumentalities associated with multi-view 3D human model estimation using machine learning (ML) based techniques. These techniques may use synthetically generated data to train an ML model that may be used to progressively regress a 3D human body model based on multi-view 2D images. The training data may be synthetically generated based on statistical distributions of human poses and human body shapes, as well as a statistical distribution of camera viewpoints. The progressive regression may be performed based on consensus features shared by the multi-view images and diversity features derived from at least one of the multi-view images. Consistency between the multi-view images may also be maintained during the regression process.

Abstract: The physical characteristics of one or more anatomical structures of a person may change in accordance with conditions surrounding the determination of such physical characteristics. Machine learning based techniques may be used to determine a template representation of the one or more anatomical structures that may indicate the physical characteristics of the one or more anatomical structures free of the impact imposed by changing conditions. The template representation may then be used to predict the physical characteristics of the one or more anatomical structures under a new set of conditions, without subjecting the person to additional medical scans.

Abstract: Detecting motions associated with a body part of a patient may include using an image sensor installed inside a medical scanner to capture first and second images of the patient inside the medical scanner, wherein the first image may depict the patient in a first state and the second image may depict the patient in a second state. A first area, in the first image, that corresponds to the body part of the patient may be identified and a second area, in the second image, that corresponds to the body part may also be identified so that a first plurality of features may be extracted from the first area of the first image and a second plurality of features may be extracted from the second area of the second image. A motion associated with the body part of the patient may be determined based on the first and second pluralities of features.

Abstract: Described herein are systems, methods, and instrumentalities associated with processing complex-valued MRI data using a machine learning (ML) model. The ML model may be learned based on synthetically generated MRI training data and by applying one or more meta-learning techniques. The MRI training data may be generated by adding phase information to real-valued MRI data and/or by converting single-coil MRI data into multi-coil MRI data based on coil sensitivity maps. The meta-learning process may include using portions of the training data to conduct a first round of learning to determine updated model parameters and using remaining portions of the training data to test the updated model parameters. Losses associated with the testing may then be determined and used to refine the model parameters. The ML model learned using these techniques may be adopted for a variety of tasks including, for example, MRI image reconstruction and/or de-noising.

Abstract: Deep learning based systems, methods, and instrumentalities are described herein for registering images from a same imaging modality and different imaging modalities. Transformation parameters associated with the image registration task are determined using a neural ordinary differential equation (ODE) network that comprises multiple layers, each configured to determine a respective gradient update for the transformation parameters based on a current state of the transformation parameters received by the layer. The gradient updates determined by the multiple ODE layers are then integrated and applied to initial values of the transformation parameters to obtain final parameters for completing the image registration task. The operations of the ODE network may be facilitated by a feature extraction network pre-trained to determine content features shared by the input images.