3D imaging of blood vessels using X-ray rotational angiographic system

The authors describe a 3D image reconstruction method using X-ray rotational angiographic system to realize 3D imaging of blood vessels. Several reconstruction methods utilize biplane or stereo angiographic system and assume the cross section shape of blood vessels (e.g. ellipse). However, the information provided by a few projections is insufficient for reconstructing a precise 3D image of blood vessels. Furthermore, the assumption of cross sectional shapes is usually not valid for abnormal blood vessels. In the authors´ method, using an X-ray rotational angiographic system, digital angiograms are collected in a short period of time and a 3D image of blood vessels is reconstructed using a short scan cone-beam filtered backprojection algorithm. Moreover, the authors´ method provides 3D visualization and 3D quantitative analyses of blood vessels. From results of the application to a patient´s cerebral blood vessels, the authors present the effectiveness of their method.