Wahle A, Wellnhofer
E, Mugaragu I, Sauer HU, Oswald H, Fleck E:
Medical Imaging Conference 1993, San Francisco CA, IEEE Press
Volume 2, Page 1217-1221, 1993/94
First approach to assess diffuse coronary artery disease by direct relations (further reading: correlations, per-patient)
Abstract: Quantitative evaluations on coronary vessel systems are of increasing importance in cardio-vascular diagnosis, therapy planning and surgical verification. Local evaluations, like stenosis analysis, are already available with sufficient accuracy. On the other hand, global evaluations on vessel segments or vessel subsystems are not yet common.
Especially for the diagnosis of diffuse coronary artery diseases, we combined a 3-D reconstruction system operating on biplane angiograms with a length/volume calculation. The 3-D reconstruction results in a 3-D model of the coronary vessel system, consisting of the vessel skeleton and a discrete number of contours. To obtain a most accurate model, we focussed on exact geometry determination. Several algorithms for calculating missing geometric parameters and correcting remaining geometry errors were implemented and verified. The length/volume evaluation can be performed either on single vessel segments, on a set of segments, or on sub-trees.
A volume model based on generalized elliptical conic sections is created for the selected segments. Volumes and lengths (measured along the vessel course) of those elements are summed up. In this way, the morphological parameters of a vessel subsystem can be set in relation to the parameters of the supplying segment proximal to it. These relations allow objective assessments of diffuse coronary artery diseases.