Wahle A, Mitchell SC, Long RM, Sonka M:


Accurate Volumetric Quantification of Coronary Lesions by Fusion between Intravascular Ultrasound and Biplane Angiography.

CARS 2000, in:

Lemke HU, Vannier MW, Inamura K, Farman AG, Doi K (eds):

Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS 2000).

Proceedings of the 14th International Congress and Exhibition, San Francisco CA, Excerpta Medica International Congress Series, Elsevier

Volume 1214, Page 549-554, 2000

Extension of the generalized conic section for determination of an oblique free-shaped 3-D volume (Paper) (Images) (Links)

Abstract: Intravascular ultrasound of the coronary arteries (IVUS) has become a well-established complementary method to angiography for cardiovascular diagnosis and supervision of coronary interventions. The vessel cross-sections can be imaged, accurately depicting the lumen as well as the vessel wall, including the composition and location of the plaque. This information is essential for both planning the intervention (e.g. for stenting or angioplasty) as well as for validation of the results. A major drawback of IVUS is its inability to consider the vessel curvature and the orientation of the imaging catheter when assigning the detected plaque to specific locations. Any quantifications performed on these data are inevitably distorted, since the vessel curvature remains unconsidered. Especially, conventional 3-D reconstruction techniques may overestimate the volume of a vessel or any part thereof when the catheter is not oriented in parallel to the vessel centerline. Merging of IVUS frames acquired during different heart phases further distorts volumetric quantification. This paper presents an approach to estimate the volume by geometrically correct 3-D reconstruction of the IVUS data, followed by accurate quantification of the volumes between adjacent frames, considering the spatial orientation of the catheter as well as the vessel geometry. The presented fusion approach along with the volumetric measurement method provide an accurate assessment of coronary vessels in terms of quantification of vessel lumen and plaque volumes. It can be applied on routinely acquired data from IVUS and their corresponding angiographic images. The fusion system has a high level of automatization, thus introducing an important aid for diagnosis and coronary interventions.