Automatic centerline extraction of left coronary artery from X–ray rotational angiographic images

Abstract

Rotational X-ray coronary angiography is a medical imaging technique safe and effective in identifying of the luminal disease, which considers a significant reduction in radiation exposure and contrast medium volume compared to conventional angiography. The main objective of this research is to propose a computational approach to automatically extract a description of the morphopatological shape of the left coronary artery by means the centerlines of this vessel. The proposal is based on a sequential design which involves image enhancement, identification of all the types of vascular points belonging to the vascular system, construction of the coronary tree and tracking of the centerlines along the rotational angiography sequence. Some results obtained after applying this method to monoplane rotational X–ray image sequences are presented.