The Method of Evaluation Artery Diameter from Ultrasound Video

The cardiovascular system has become the most important subject of clinical research, particularly measurement of arterial blood flow. Therefore correct determination of arterial diameter is crucial. We propose a novel, semi-automatic method for artery lumen detection. The method is based on Gaussian probability function. Usability of our proposed method was assessed by analyzing ultrasound B-mode CFA video sequences acquired from eleven healthy volunteers. The correlation coefficient between the manual and semi-automatic measurement of arterial diameter was 0.996. Our proposed method for detecting artery boundary is novel and accurate enough for the measurement of artery diameter.

Authors:

• U. Rubins
• Z. Marcinkevics
• K.Volceka

Keywords:

• Ultrasound
• boundary detection
• artery diameter
• curve fitting.

References:

[1] RC. Chan, J. Kaufhold, LC. Hemphill, RS. Lees, WC. Karl. "Anisotropic
Edge-Preserving Smoothing in Carotid B-mode Ultrasound for Improved
Segmentation and Intima-Meida Thickness (IMT) Measurement,"
Computers in Cardiology, vol 27, pp 37-40, 2000
[2] M. Cinthio, T. Jansson, A. Eriksson, W. Persson Hans, K. A. Lindstr├©m
"Robust and Fast Algorithm for Automatic Arterial Lumen Diameter
Measuremen with Ultrasound." Dissertation for the degree of Ph.D.,
Lund University, 2004
[3] T. Gustavsson, Q. Liang, I. Wendelhag, J. Wikstrand. "A Dynamic
Programming Procedure for Automated Ultrasonic Measurement of the
Carotid Artery." Computers in Cardiology, 1994
[4] Q. Liang, I. Wendelhag, J. Wikstrand, T. Gustavsson. "A Multiscale
Dynamic Programming Procedure for Boundary Detection in Ultrasonic
Artery Images." IEEE Transactions on medical imaging, vol 19, no 2,
2000
[5] Z .Luo, Y. Wang, W. Wang. "Estimating Coronary Artery Lumen Area
With Optimization-Based Contour Detection." IEEE Transactions on
Medical Imaging, vol 22, no 4, 2003
[6] SI. Rabben, "GcMat toolbox for tracking and detecting arterial walls."
Personal communication. 2005
[7] G. Bartoli, G. Menegaz, M. Lisi, G. Di Stolfo, S. Dragoni, and T. Gori.
"Model-Based Analysis of Flow-Mediated Dilation and Intima-Media
Thickness," Int J Biomed Imaging. 2008; 2008: 738545.