Wahle A, Wellnhofer
E, Mugaragu I, Sauer HU, Oswald H, Fleck E:
Computers in Cardiology 1994, Bethesda MD, IEEE-CS Press
Page 669-672, 1994/95
Assessment of diffuse coronary artery diseases by correlations on logarithmic scales (was published in parallel to Transactions article) (Links)
Abstract: Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is associated with functional impairment, expensive treatment and fatal outcome in many patients. Quantitative evaluations on coronary vessel systems are important aids in diagnosis and therapy planning handling this major epidemiological problem. Whereas local obstructions can already be assessed sufficiently, the estimation of diffuse diseases remains difficult. We used a highly accurate spatial re construction system on biplane angiograms to quantify even diffuse alterations of the coronary morphology.
The 3-D models of the coronary trees derived from the angiograms of the different patients were decomposed into sets of subtrees. Evidently a normal coronary tree has a fractal geometry relating branching order with segment dimensions. This property can directly be used to create measures indicating the fractal amount of specific trees. In this way, the stage of diffuse atherosclerosis destroying the fractal geometry can be quantified.