A novel automatic algorithm for the segmentation of the lumen of the carotid artery in ultrasound B-mode images |
| |
Authors: | André Miguel F Santos Rosa Maria dos Santos Pedro Miguel AC Castro Elsa Azevedo Luísa Sousa João Manuel RS Tavares |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal;2. Departamento de Neurologia, Hospital São João, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal;3. Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica (IDMEC-Polo FEUP), Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal |
| |
Abstract: | A novel algorithm is proposed for the segmentation of the lumen and bifurcation boundaries of the carotid artery in B-mode ultrasound images. It uses the image contrast characteristics of the lumen and bifurcation of the carotid artery in relation to other tissues and structures for their identification. The relevant ultrasound data regarding the artery presented in the input image is identified using morphologic operators and processed by an anisotropic diffusion filter for speckle noise removal. The information obtained is then used to define two initial contours, one corresponding to the lumen and the other one regarding the bifurcation boundaries, for the application of the Chan-Vese level set segmentation model. A set of longitudinal ultrasound B-mode grayscale images of the common carotid artery was acquired using a GE Healthcare Vivid-e ultrasound system. The results reveal that the new algorithm is effective and robust, and that its main advantage relies on the automatic identification of the carotid lumen, which overcomes the known limitations of the traditional algorithms. |
| |
Keywords: | Medical imaging Ultrasound imaging Internal and external carotid arteries Image segmentation Chan-Vese model |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|