Geometrical characterization of the coronary arterial tree

C.A. Bulant¹; P.J. Blanco¹; A. N. Assunção Jr²; G. Liberato²; T.P. Lima²; J.R. Parga Filho²; P.A. Lemos²; L.F.R. Ávila²; R.A. Feijóo¹

¹ Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (LNCC); ² Instituto do Coração da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (InCor-HC/FMUSP)

doi:10.20906/CPS/CILAMCE2015-0132

Resumo

In this work we present a computational aided work-flow for the geometric characterization of coronary arterial networks obtained from non-invasive computed tomography angiography (CTA). Arterial structures are segmented from CTA images using a semi-automated pipeline based on a Level-Set technique. After surface improvement, the arterial tree backbone is modeled with polylines containing point-wise information, on top of geometric objects called centerlines, which are composed in a graph-like structure that accounts for the coronary arterial anatomy. Coronary tree models are then characterized in terms of geometric features, which provide information for individual segments, bifurcations and, ultimately the complete network. Labeling of arterial segments and the identification of lesions severity is carried out by specialized professionals. As a proof of concept we present preliminary data analysis for arterial morphometrics and geometrical comparison.

Palavras-chave: Arterial centerline; Geometric features; Arterial comparison; Coronary tree