title: Accurate Measurement of Cross-Sectional Area of Femoral Artery on MRI Sequences of Transcontinental Ultramarathon Runners Using Optimal Parameters Selection.
abstract: In clinics an accurate vessel segmentation method is important to quantize the vessel volume change with respect to time for artery elasticity measurement. This study proposes a modified version on 3D-expanded dynamic programming to find an optimal surface in a 3D matrix. The aim of this study is to discover the robustness against noises in measuring the cross-sectional area of the femoral artery on MRI datasets of ultra-endurance runners as accurately as possible. To do this, we use phantom images with different added noises and different image contrasts to find out the optimal parameters using grid search. The contrast between the vessel lumen and its background in phantom study is changed to simulate the real MRI dataset. We also add a plaque in phantom images to test the accuracy of the proposed algorithm in dealing pathologic cases. The phantom studies and grid search on selecting optimal parameters can offer an alternative way on parameter selection. In application to MRI, the accuracy is performed via comparisons between the manual tracings of experts and automated results. The mean relative error is 2.1 % ± 2.1 % on testing 11 MRI datasets (total 550 images). The phantom studies and grid search on selecting optimal parameters can offer an alternative way on parameter selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Science, China Medical University, Taichung, 404, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Da-Chuan
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, 600, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jhu-Fong
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Hsuan
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicine, School of Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan.|Department of Internal Medicine, Chung-Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chun-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, 413, Taiwan. shliu@cyut.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shing-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D056352:Athletes; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012420:Running
keywords: 3D dynamic programming; Magnetic resonance imaging; Optimal parameter selection; Vessel boundary