Algorithm effects on computerized vessel analysis from digitized cine film and a new method of generating the centerline of a vessel

Abstract

This study concerns methods of accurately measuring vessel diameters using coronary cineangiograms. Various edge detection filters are compared and a new method for determining the centerline of a vessel is developed. Vessel phantoms of different sizes are used to evaluate the precision and accuracy of an entropy filter, a combined first and second derivative filter, a Laplace-Gaussian filter, a first derivative filter and a second derivative filter. The entropy filter is found to yield the most reliable, precise and accurate data. For use in a clinical case with an irregular arterial wall, a new method of determining the centerline is delineated in which the centerline of a vessel (which we define as a set of points having equal distance to each of any two opposite edge lines) is calculated with images called distance maps. We find that this method of detecting the centerline provides an acceptable assessment of the centerline on visual evaluation.