Detection of the intima and media walls of the carotid artery with geodesic active contours

Arteriosclerosis is one of the most extended diseases of the arterial walls which may lead to serious heart disease. The intima-medial thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery has emerged as an early and reliable indicator of arteriosclerosis. It is measured using ultrasound B-scan. The IMT is still measured visually by the doctor. To solve all the problems related to the manual procedure employed, a segmentation of the image is presented. Thanks to this segmentation, the intima and media walls are better defined along all its length, allowing the extraction of more measurements like the mean, maximum or minimum IMT and even studying its evolution through time. To achieve this segmentation, different image processing techniques have been used, such as anisotropic diffusion or geodesic active contours. With the process here presented, the IMT calculated is comparable with that extracted by the specialist, but avoiding the drawbacks of a visual procedure.