An artificial vision system for coronary angiography

The coronary tree expert analyzer (CORTEX), a computer vision system for the description of the bidimensional shape and position of coronary vessels in standard nonsubtracted radiographic images, is described. The basic ideas used in developing the system are given, and the modules of CORTEX and their algorithmic implementation are described. According to a bottom-up approach, grouping criteria are utilized to produce intermediate image representations of increasing scale in a hierarchical manner (from edge points to curves, segments, bars, and finally to vessels and bifurcations). The evaluation of CORTEX performances according to a signal-detection-theory-like approach is also discussed