Segmentation and reconstruction of cerebral vessels from 3D rotational angiography for AVM embolization planning.

Abstract

Diagnosis and computer-guided therapy of cerebral Arterio-Venous Malformations (AVM) require an accurate understanding of the cerebral vascular network both from structural and biomechanical point of view. We propose to obtain such information by analyzing three Dimensional Rotational Angiography (3DRA) images. In this paper, we describe a two-step process allowing 1) the 3D automatic segmentation of cerebral vessels from 3DRA images using a region-growing based algorithm and 2) the reconstruction of the segmented vessels using the 3D constrained Delaunay Triangulation method. The proposed algorithm was successfully applied to reconstruct cerebral blood vessels from ten datasets of 3DRA images. This software allows the neuroradiologist to separately analyze cerebral vessels for pre-operative interventions planning and therapeutic decision making.