3D dynamic model of the coronary tree [angiographic images]

This article presents a new approach to build a kinetic elastic model of the coronary tree. The authors´ purpose is to use this model in order to achieve spatio-temporal understanding of the cardiovascular dynamics. A semantic network was developed to make a static structural model. Then, to estimate the motion, the network uses a Kalman filtering device guided by the trajectory model. The vessel deformation is detected in an energy-minimization procedure applying the active contour model (snake) technique. A complete spatio-temporal description of the vessels (not just of sparse set of points) is obtained using a compact bi-dimensional B-spline representation where the movement of the vessel model is uniquely determined from the movement of the B-spline control points. In the authors´ two-dimensional B-spline dynamic model the directions determined by the iso-parametric curves correspond to the spatial and temporal vessel position, respectively