Paper
21 May 2001 Virtual angioscopic visualization and analysis of coronary aneurysms using intravascular ultrasound images
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Kawasaki Disease is an inflammatory illness of young children that can seriously affect the cardiovascular system. The disease may cause coronary artery aneurysms, a thinning and dilation of the arterial wall when the wall is weakened by disease. Such aneurysms significantly increase the risk of rupture of the arterial wall, an event from which few patients survive. Due to the largely asymptotic nature of coronary aneurysms, diagnosis must be timely and accurate in order for treatment to be effective. Currently, aneurysms are detected primarily using X-ray angiography, MRI, and CT images. Increased insight into the disease and its effects on the arterial wall can be gained by multi-dimensional computerized visualization and quantitative analysis of diagnostic images made possible by the techniques of intravascular imaging and virtual endoscopy. Intravascular ultrasound images (IVUS) of a coronary artery exhibiting aneurysms were acquired from a patient with Kawasaki Disease. The disease is characterized by low luminescent in the IVUS images. Image segmentation of the abnormal, prominent anechoic regions branching from the lumen and originating within other layers of the arterial wall was performed and each region defined as a separate object. An object segmentation map was generated and used in perspective rendering of the original image volume set at successive locations along the length of the arterial segment, producing a 'fly-through' of the interior of the artery. The diseased region (aneurysm) of the wall was well defined by the differences in luminal size and by differences in appearance of the arterial wall shape observed during virtual angioscopic fly-throughs. Erosions of the endovascular surface caused pronounced horizontal and vertical ballooning of the lumen. Minute cracks within the unaffected luminal areas revealed possible early development of an aneurysm on the contralateral wall, originating in the medial section of the artery and spreading outward toward the lumen.
© (2001) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Tina A.A. Ayeni, David Richard Holmes III, and Richard A. Robb "Virtual angioscopic visualization and analysis of coronary aneurysms using intravascular ultrasound images", Proc. SPIE 4321, Medical Imaging 2001: Physiology and Function from Multidimensional Images, (21 May 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.428174
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Cited by 1 scholarly publication.
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KEYWORDS
Image segmentation

Arteries

Intravascular ultrasound

Visualization

Ultrasonography

Visual analytics

3D image processing

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