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In this paper a method for segmentation of vessels in angiographic images is addressed. In this method for detecting the vessels in one angiographic frame, whole of angiographic frames in the sequence are utilized. For this purpose, firstly Hessian based vesselness filter is applied to the angiographic sequence to make discrimination between the vascular structures and the background. Afterward, the...
This work explores the segmentation of the intima-media complex (IMC) of the common carotid artery (CCA) wall for the evaluation of the intima media thickness (IMT) on B-mode ultrasound images. The IMT provides important clinical information for the evaluation of the risk of developing atherosclerosis. The algorithm begins with speckle removal, which is followed by the use of a Hough transform for...
A method to obtain motion artifact-free reconstructed images of the coronary arteries is proposed and evaluated. The method relies on the integration of coronary motion estimation in an iterative computed tomography reconstruction technique. Coronary motion fields are derived from a set of coronary centerlines extracted at multiple cardiac phases within the R-R interval. Start and end points are provided...
Vessel tracking is a topic that has had extensive coverage when dealing with high axial resolution data, obtained from modalities requiring patients to be exposed to greater levels of radiation dose, possibly to the detriment of their health[10]. The use of low axial resolution data such as multi-slice CT(MSCT) used in coronary artery disease screening is becoming widely used clinically to provide...
Conventional kinetic parameter estimation based on compartmental models requires an accurate estimation of arterial blood input function. To avoid invasive blood sampling, an image-derived input function can be obtained by manually defining a Region of Interest. Here we propose a new and simple, iterative method for automatic segmentation and input function calculation of PET cardiac studies using...
Arteriosclerosis is one of the most extended diseases of the arterial walls which may lead to serious heart disease. The intima-medial thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery has emerged as an early and reliable indicator of arteriosclerosis. It is measured using ultrasound B-scan. The IMT is still measured visually by the doctor. To solve all the problems related to the manual procedure employed, a...
Artery intima-media thickness (IMT) is a useful marker for diagnosis of atherosclerosis. In this paper, we have proposed a new scheme for detection and measurement of the IMT in medical ultrasound images, in which the image empirical mode decomposition (IEMD) is used as the detection part as well as adaptive gray stretching, and watershed segmentation for extracting boundary of intima. To measure...
The following topics are dealt with: vascular image analysis; brain imaging and analysis; biological imaging and analysis; cancer imaging and analysis; computer aided diagnosis; ultrasound imaging and analysis; image registration; shape modeling and analysis; cardiac imaging and analysis; lung image segmentation; high-field clinical MRI; cellular and molecular image analysis; tracking and motion analysis;...
In this paper we present a method for coronary artery motion tracking in 4D cardiac CT data sets. The algorithm allows the automatic construction of a 4D coronary motion model from pre-operative CT which can be used for guiding totally-endoscopic coronary artery bypass surgery (TECAB). The proposed approach is based on two steps: In the first step, the coronary arteries are extracted in the end-diastolic...
Equilibrium radionuclide angiography images (ERNA) has been established as a useful modality for clinical evaluation of the ventricular function. Tomographic acquisition of ERNA (SPECT-ERNA) improves the quantification of ventricular function with planar ERNA, avoiding both the overlap of structures and the need of defining the best septal view which can be difficult in dilated ventricles. In this...
In this work, an algorithm for the detection of the left ventricular border in two-dimensional long axis echocardiographic images is presented. In its preprocessing stage, images fusion was applied to a sequence of images composed of three cardiac cycles. This method exploits the similarity of corresponding frames from different cycles and produces contrast enhancement in the left ventricular boundary...
In spite of the advancement and proliferation of cardiovascular imaging data, the rate of deaths due to unpredicted heart attack remains high. Thus, it becomes imperative to develop novel computational tools to mine quantitative parameters from imaging data for early detection and diagnosis of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease. In this paper, we present our progress towards developing a computational...
Procedural guidance using high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) myocardial scar mapping may offer assistance in directing catheter ablation therapy aimed at eliminating re-entrant arrhythmic pathways. For the purpose of pre-procedural planning and intra-procedural guidance, determining the spatial relationship between myocardial scar, cardiac chambers and vascular structures is a crucial step towards...
The stiffness of the aortic wall was evaluated by coupling the morphological and the blood flow MR data. The deformability of the ascending aorta, and the aortic Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) were estimated in a series of 36 volunteers aged between 14 and 77 years. An accurate automatic method of segmentation for extracting contours of the aorta was used. A 3D estimation of the length of the aortic arch...
Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is used for the detection and assessment of coronary artery disease. While myocardial ischemia may be detected visually from the MR images by trained cardiologists or radiologists, it is likely that semi-quantitative or quantitative analysis of the dynamic images can improve the accuracy of diagnoses. Such analyses have yet to be standardized...
3-Dimensional (3D) geometry of the coronary artery often changes due to stent implantation. In our investigation we analyzed the effect of stent on the 3D geometry in each heart-cycle phase. At the site of implantation the degree of decrease in the coronary curve were measured, and the correlation between the original curve and the change of the curve were determined. The effect of 17 Coroflex Blue...
Approximately 1.5 million heart attacks are suffered annually by Americans, and about half of them prove fatal, despite a host of new public health initiatives targeting heart disease and its aggravating factors such as obesity. The case of Former US President Bill Clinton, who underwent quadruple bypass surgery, demonstrates that even a former president with access to the best medical care available...
In recent years the diagnosis of the coronary artery disease is supported by non-invasive imaging methods such as CT, MRI, PET or SPECT. Today, CT is the leading modality for morphology imaging of the heart. Moreover, iodine-based contrast agents enable a visualization of myocardial viability with CT. In this work, we present new software assistants, that enable a comprehensive result exploration...
Arterial stiffness is thought to be a powerful indicator of present and possible future cardiovascular risk. Accordingly, there is an increasing interest in the non-invasive clinical measurement of arterial stiffness. The commonly used non-invasive methods assess aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) which is known to be a good indicator of aortic stiffness. These methods calculate the PWV by measuring...
We describe a means to automatically and efficiently isolate the outer surface of the entire heart in computer tomography (CT) cardiac scans. Isolating the entire heart allows the coronary vessels on the surface of the heart to be easily visualized despite the proximity of surrounding organs such as the ribs and pulmonary blood vessels. Numerous techniques have been described for segmenting the left...
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