title: Spherical operator classification for coronary artery extraction.
abstract: Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is a major noninvasive technology for imaging coronary artery disease, and effective and accurate vessel tracking method can help radiologists diagnose the disease more accurately. In this paper, a novel 3D vessel tracking method based on CTA data is presented. The method is comprised of preprocessing, a novel spherical operator, and hierarchical clustering, where the spherical operator consists of rays that are casted different directions in a spherical coordinate system. The vascular boundary is extracted by the spherical operator, and the tracking direction is also obtained by the hierarchical clustering. The method is evaluated with the Rotterdam Coronary Artery Algorithm Evaluation Framework. Results indicate that our method outperforms current state-of-the-art methods in terms of the overlap ratio on the vessel tracking of coronary arteries in CTA data.
authors.affiliation: Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100086, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, China.
authors.forename: Yakang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, China.
authors.forename: Zhaobang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215163, China.
authors.forename: Yuefang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
keywords: 3D vessel tracking; hierarchical clustering; spherical operator