An image analysis system for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence lymph imaging

Jingdan Zhang; Shaohua Kevin Zhou; Xiaoyan Xiang; John C. Rasmussen; Eva M. Sevick-Muraca

doi:10.1117/12.878828

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9 March 2011 An image analysis system for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence lymph imaging

Jingdan Zhang, Shaohua Kevin Zhou, Xiaoyan Xiang, John C. Rasmussen, Eva M. Sevick-Muraca

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Proceedings Volume 7965, Medical Imaging 2011: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging; 796513 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.878828
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2011, Lake Buena Vista (Orlando), Florida, United States

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of lymphatic function is crucial for understanding the lymphatic system and diagnosing the associated diseases. Recently, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging system is developed for real-time imaging lymphatic propulsion by intradermal injection of microdose of a NIR fluorophore distal to the lymphatics of interest. However, the previous analysis software3, 4 is underdeveloped, requiring extensive time and effort to analyze a NIR image sequence. In this paper, we develop a number of image processing techniques to automate the data analysis workflow, including an object tracking algorithm to stabilize the subject and remove the motion artifacts, an image representation named flow map to characterize lymphatic flow more reliably, and an automatic algorithm to compute lymph velocity and frequency of propulsion. By integrating all these techniques to a system, the analysis workflow significantly reduces the amount of required user interaction and improves the reliability of the measurement.

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Jingdan Zhang, Shaohua Kevin Zhou, Xiaoyan Xiang, John C. Rasmussen, and Eva M. Sevick-Muraca "An image analysis system for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence lymph imaging", Proc. SPIE 7965, Medical Imaging 2011: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging, 796513 (9 March 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.878828

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