Coronary x-ray angiographic reconstruction and image orientation.

We have developed an interactive geometric method for 3D reconstruction of the coronary arteries using multiple single-plane angiographic views with arbitrary orientations. Epipolar planes and epipolar lines are employed to trace corresponding vessel segments on these views. These points are utilized to reconstruct 3D vessel centerlines. The accuracy of the reconstruction is assessed using: (1) near-intersection distances of the rays that connect x-ray sources with projected points, (2) distances between traced and projected centerlines. These same two measures enter into a fitness function for a genetic search algorithm (GA) employed to orient the angiographic image planes automatically in 3D avoiding local minima in the search for optimized parameters. Furthermore, the GA utilizes traced vessel shapes (as opposed to isolated anchor points) to assist the optimization process. Differences between two-view and multiview reconstructions are evaluated. Vessel radii are measured and used to render the coronary tree in 3D as a surface. Reconstruction fidelity is demonstrated via (1) virtual phantom, (2) real phantom, and (3) patient data sets, the latter two of which utilize the GA. These simulated and measured angiograms illustrate that the vessel center-lines are reconstructed in 3D with accuracy below 1 mm. The reconstruction method is thus accurate compared to typical vessel dimensions of 1-3 mm. The methods presented should enable a combined interpretation of the severity of coronary artery stenoses and the hemodynamic impact on myocardial perfusion in patients with coronary artery disease.

Angle-independent measure of motion for image-based gating in 3D coronary angiography.

The role of three-dimensional (3D) image guidance for interventional procedures and minimally invasive surgeries is increasing for the treatment of vascular disease. Currently, most interventional procedures are guided by two-dimensional x-ray angiography, but computed rotational angiography has the potential to provide 3D geometric information about the coronary arteries. The creation of 3D angiographic images of the coronary arteries requires synchronization of data acquisition with respect to the cardiac cycle, in order to minimize motion artifacts. This can be achieved by inferring the extent of motion from a patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. However, a direct measurement of motion (from the 2D angiograms) has the potential to improve the 3D angiographic images by ensuring that only projections acquired during periods of minimal motion are included in the reconstruction. This paper presents an image-based metric for measuring the extent of motion in 2D x-ray angiographic images. Adaptive histogram equalization was applied to projection images to increase the sharpness of coronary arteries and the superior-inferior component of the weighted centroid (SIC) was measured. The SIC constitutes an image-based metric that can be used to track vessel motion, independent of apparent motion induced by the rotational acquisition. To evaluate the technique, six consecutive patients scheduled for routine coronary angiography procedures were studied. We compared the end of the SIC rest period (rho) to R-waves (R) detected in the patient's ECG and found a mean difference of 14 +/- 80 ms. Two simultaneous angular positions were acquired and rho was detected for each position. There was no statistically significant difference (P = 0.79) between rho in the two simultaneously acquired angular positions. Thus we have shown the SIC to be independent of view angle, which is critical for rotational angiography. A preliminary image-based gating strategy that employed the SIC was compared to an ECG-based gating strategy in a porcine model. The image-based gating strategy selected 61 projection images, compared to 45 selected by the ECG-gating strategy. Qualitative comparison revealed that although both the SIC-based and ECG-gated reconstructions decreased motion artifact compared to reconstruction with no gating, the SIC-based gating technique increased the conspicuity of smaller vessels when compared to ECG gating in maximum intensity projections of the reconstructions and increased the sharpness of a vessel cross section in multi-planar reformats of the reconstruction.

2D-3D registration of coronary angiograms for cardiac procedure planning and guidance.

We present a completely automated 2D-3D registration technique that accurately maps a patient-specific heart model, created from preoperative images, to the patient's orientation in the operating room. This mapping is based on the registration of preoperatively acquired 3D vascular data with intraoperatively acquired angiograms. Registration using both single and dual-plane angiograms is explored using simulated but realistic datasets that were created from clinical images. Heart deformations and cardiac phase mismatches are taken into account in our validation using a digital 4D human heart model. In an ideal situation where the pre- and intraoperative images were acquired at identical time points within the cardiac cycle, the single-plane and the dual-plane registrations resulted in 3D root-mean-square (rms) errors of 1.60 +/- 0.21 and 0.53 +/- 0.08 mm, respectively. When a 10% timing offset was added between the pre- and the intraoperative acquisitions, the single-plane registration approach resulted in inaccurate registrations in the out-of-plane axis, whereas the dual-plane registration exhibited a 98% success rate with a 3D rms error of 1.33 +/- 0.28 mm. When all potential sources of error were included, namely, the anatomical background, timing offset, and typical errors in the vascular tree reconstruction, the dual-plane registration performed at 94% with an accuracy of 2.19 +/- 0.77 mm.