title: Quantifying 3-D vascular structures in MRA images using hybrid PDE and geometric deformable models.
abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a hybrid approach to accurate quantification of vascular structures from magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) images using level set methods and deformable geometric models constructed with 3-D Delaunay triangulation. Multiple scale filtering based on the analysis of local intensity structure using the Hessian matrix is used to effectively enhance vessel structures with various diameters. The level set method is then applied to automatically segment vessels enhanced by the filtering with a speed function derived from enhanced MRA images. Since the goal of this paper is to obtain highly accurate vessel borders, suitable for use in fluid flow simulations, in a subsequent step, the vessel surface determined by the level set method is triangulated using 3-D Delaunay triangulation and the resulting surface is used as a parametric deformable model. Energy minimization is then performed within a variational setting with a first-order internal energy; the external energy is derived from 3-D image gradients. Using the proposed method, vessels are accurately segmented from MRA data.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Image Analysis Laboratory, Washington University School of Medicine, Box 8086, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Amir A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Amini
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001158:Arteries / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013382:Subtraction Technique