title: Error propagation in the characterization of atheromatic plaque types based on imaging.
abstract: Imaging systems transmit and acquire signals and are subject to errors including: error sources, signal variations or possible calibration errors. These errors are included in all imaging systems for atherosclerosis and are propagated to methodologies implemented for the segmentation and characterization of atherosclerotic plaque. In this paper, we present a study for the propagation of imaging errors and image segmentation errors in plaque characterization methods applied to 2D vascular images. More specifically, the maximum error that can be propagated to the plaque characterization results is estimated, assuming worst-case scenarios. The proposed error propagation methodology is validated using methods applied to real datasets, obtained from intravascular imaging (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for coronary arteries, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for carotid arteries. The plaque characterization methods have recently been presented in the literature and are able to detect the vessel borders, and characterize the atherosclerotic plaque types. Although, these methods have been extensively validated using as gold standard expert annotations, by applying the proposed error propagation methodology a more realistic validation is performed taking into account the effect of the border detection algorithms error and the image formation error into the final results. The Pearson's coefficient of the detected plaques has changed significantly when the method was applied to IVUS and OCT, while there was not any variation when the method was applied to MRI data.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Lambros S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Athanasiou
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rigas
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sakellarios
authors.affiliation: ThoraxCenter, Erasmus Medical Center, 's-Gravendijkwal 230, 3015 CE Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christos V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Bourantas
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stefanou
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fotiou
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece; FORTH-Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Biomedical Research, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Themis P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Exarchos
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siogkas
authors.affiliation: Michaelidion Cardiac Center, Department of Cardiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Katerina K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Naka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, Pisa 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Oberdan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Parodi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, Pisa 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vozzi
authors.affiliation: University Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB20QQ, UK.
authors.forename: Zhongzhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: University Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB20QQ, UK.
authors.forename: Victoria E L
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: University Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB20QQ, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Gillard
authors.affiliation: Interventional Cardiology, San Giovanni Hospital, Via dell' Amba Aradam, 8, Rome 00184, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Prati
authors.affiliation: Michaelidion Cardiac Center, Department of Cardiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Lampros K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Michalis
authors.affiliation: Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece; FORTH-Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Biomedical Research, GR 45110 Ioannina, Greece. Electronic address: fotiadis@cc.uoi.gr.
authors.forename: Dimitrios I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Fotiadis
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000473:pathology*; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
keywords: Atherosclerotic plaque; Error propagation; Image formation; Intravascular imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Optical coherence tomography