3-D RECONSTRUCTION OF CORONARY ARTERY MEDIAL AXES FROM BI-PLANE ANGIOGRAPHY.

A technique has been developed to provide a 3-D, quantitative reconstruction of the coronary tree using axes extracted from two angiograms acquired at different angles. The reconstructed axes may be viewed from any perspective, even those normally unattainable in conventional angiography. Initially, straight-line axes were derived from radiographs of relatively short branched vessel segments to provide quantitative parameters particularly descriptive of bifurcation sites. The vessel medial axis has also been obtained using a thinning operation applied to specified vessel regions. This approach quantitatively characterize tortuosity and the axial course of the vessel regions. This approach quantitatively characterizes tortuosity and the axial course of the vessel over its entire visible length, as well as bifurcation geometry. Both techniques have proven to be useful approaches in the visualization and quantification of vessel geometry, which may be a factor in determining the predisposition of a vessel to atherosclerotic disease.

Duke Scholars

Author Morton Friedman Biomedical Engineering