Three-dimensional model-based stenosis quantification of the carotid arteries from contrast-enhanced MR angiography

A model-based technique for quantitative analysis of three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is presented. The model consists of a deformable B-spline representation of the central vessel axis and the vessel wall. An efficient interaction mechanism to initialize the models in a three-dimensional setting is devised. Two novel image features are introduced in order to deform the central vessel axis and the vessel wall model respectively. A segmental optimization scheme for deforming the B-spline vessel wall model is introduced. Finally, the paper presents results on clinical contrast enhanced (CE) MRA of 19 carotid arteries. Percentages of stenosis obtained with the authors´ technique are compared to those of two experts using caliper measurements on Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) CE MRA, and Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) as standard of reference