METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREDICTING COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT WITH FEEDBACK

A method and apparatus are disclosed for predicting prior to injection an organ specific contrast enhancement in a patient for a preselected contrast injection protocol for pre-determining a computed tomography scan. The invention is preferably implemented in a computer program which creates a mathematical model of human cardiovascular physiology in a hypothetical patient with a specific body habitus subjected to the pre-selected contrast injection protocol. The predicted contrast enhancement is then displayed for operator approval and may be then used to control a CT scanner or contrast injector system, to perform the injection and scan with the pre-selected injection protocol and scan parameters. The mathematical model includes models of organs and vessels using differential equations to describe mass transport of contrast agent through the cardiovascular system. Also disclosed are a method and apparatus for predicting optimum injection protocol for contrast agent by analyzing the predicted enhancement levels and updating the injection protocol until acceptable enhancement levels are predicted as well as a method and apparatus for determining an optimum scan interval when enhancement levels are predicted to exceed a threshold level for a time period greater than the scan duration. Further disclosed is a method and apparatus for monitoring a region of interest in the patient different from the region to be scanned after injection to calibrate the mathematical model and more accurately predict enhancement levels in the tissue to be scanned and calculate the optimum scan parameters.