Wahle A, Mitchell SC, Olszewski ME, Long RM, Sonka M:


Accurate Visualization and Quantification of Coronary Vasculature by 3-D/4-D Fusion from Biplane Angiography and Intravascular Ultrasound.

EBiOS 2000, in:

Gannot I, Gulyaev YV, Papazoglou TG, van Swol CFP:

European Biomedical Optics Week (EBiOS 2000): Biomonitoring and Endoscopy Technologies.

SPIE Europto

Volume 4158, Page 144-155, 2000/2001

Comprehensive summarizing paper about the complete process of segmentation, fusion, and visualization, along with an illustration of user interaction (Paper) (Images) (Links)

Abstract: In the rapidly evolving field of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) for tissue characterization and visualization, the assessment of vessel morphology still lacks a geometrically correct 3-D reconstruction. The IVUS frames are usually stacked up to form a straight vessel, neglecting curvature and the axial twisting of the catheter during the pullback. This paper presents a comprehensive system for geometrically correct reconstruction of IVUS images by fusion with biplane angiography, thus combining the advantages of both modalities. Vessel cross-section and tissue characteristics are obtained from IVUS, while the 3-D locations are derived by geometrical reconstruction from the angiographic projections. ECG-based timing ensures a proper match of the image data with the respective heart phase. The fusion is performed for each heart phase individually, thus yielding the 4-D data as a set of 3-D reconstructions.

The entire process can be split up into the following list of tasks:

  1. acquire IVUS and angiographic data and sort them by the heart phase;
  2. segment IVUS and angiographic data for vessel and tissue structure;
  3. determine the 3-D location for each feature in each considered heart phase;
  4. use the reconstructed 3-D or 4-D data for visualization and/or quantification.

The system has been applied and validated in-vitro and in-vivo.