Carotid Artery Boundary Extraction Using Segmentation Techniques: A Comparative Study

Different methods for boundary extraction of carotid artery have been proposed in recent years and different research groups have reported contradictory results. The goal of this paper is to present an independent comparative analysis of different boundary extraction techniques (Canny, wavelet with watershed and wavelet with fuzzy C). The techniques are tested with B-mode Ultrasound (US) images of the carotid artery. The boundary of carotid artery is extracted from the segmented images. The diameter of the artery is calculated. This is a step towards analysis of cardiac disease. Reduction in diameter is related to the plaque formation and other deposits in the artery wall. Experimental results prove that fuzzy C means along with wavelets is better than other two methods as boundary obtained best fits the vessel wall.