An improved algorithm for vessel centerline tracking in coronary angiograms

• Published in: Computer methods and programs in biomedicine Vol. 88; no. 2; pp. 131 - 143
• Main Authors: Xu, Yan, Zhang, Hui, Li, Hao, Hu, Guangshu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.11.2007
• Subjects: Algorithms; Angiogram; Blood Vessels; Centerline tracking; China; Coronary Angiography - methods; Coronary Angiography - standards; Coronary artery; Hessian matrix; Humans; Internal Medicine; Other; Sun algorithm; China; Angiogram; Centerline tracking; Sun algorithm; Coronary artery; Hessian matrix
• ISSN: 0169-2607; 1872-7565
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2007.08.004

For automated visualization and quantification of artery diseases, the accurate determination of the arterial centerline is a prerequisite. Existing tracking-based approaches usually suffer from the inaccuracy, inflexion and discontinuity in the extracted centerlines, and they may even fail in complicated situations. In this paper, an improved algorithm for coronary arterial centerline extraction is proposed, which incorporates a new tracking direction updating scheme, a self-adaptive magnitude of linear extrapolation and a dynamic-size search window for matched filtering. A simulation study is conducted for the determination of the optimal weighting factor which is used to combine the geometrical topology information and intensity distribution information to obtain the proposed tracking direction. Synthetic and clinical examples, representing some difficult situations that may occur in coronary angiograms, are presented. Results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the conventional methods. By adopting the proposed algorithm, centerlines are successfully extracted under these complicated situations, and with satisfactory accuracy.