A vessel segmentation method based on tubular structure for Calot arteries

Calot arteries visualization can lower down the risk of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy. Visualization needs accurate segmentation of Calot arteries, including cystic artery and its adjacent arteries from CTA images. But tenuous cystic artery shows low intensity in CTA images and has complicated background, making the segmentation work difficult. A 3D region growing method based on tubular structure is proposed to segment those vessels. It was verified on clinical CTA images. The experimental results show that this method can effectively segment Calot arteries, providing reliable data to visualize Calot arteries.