title: A Semi-Automatic Coronary Artery Segmentation Framework Using Mechanical Simulation.
abstract: CVD (cardiovascular disease) is one of the biggest threats to human beings nowadays. An early and quantitative diagnosis of CVD is important in extending lifespan and improving people's life quality. Coronary artery stenosis can prevent CVD. To diagnose the degree of stenosis, the inner diameter of coronary artery needs to be measured. To achieve such measurement, the coronary artery is segmented by using a method that is based on morphology and the continuity between computed tomography image slices. A centerline extraction method based on mechanical simulation is proposed. This centerline extraction method can figure out a basic framework of the coronary artery by simulating pixel dots of the artery image into mass points. Such mass points have tensile forces, with which the outer pixel dots can be drawn to the center. Subsequently, the centerline of the coronary artery can be outlined by using the local line-fitting method. Finally, the nearest point method is adopted to measure the inner diameter. Experimental results showed that the methods proposed in this paper can precisely extract the centerline of the coronary artery and can accurately measure its inner diameter, thereby providing a basis for quantitative diagnosis of coronary artery stenosis.
authors: School of Information Science and Technology, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Zhongkai Road 501#, Guangzhou, 510225, Guangdong, China.
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: Cai
authors: Rongqian
authors: R
authors: Yang
authors: Lihua
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Shanxing
authors: S
authors: Ou
authors: Yuke
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Jianhong
authors: J
authors: Dou
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed