Model-guided segmentation of opacified thorax vessels

We propose a novel method, guided slice marching to segment opacified vessels tree in 3D image sets (CT scans). It combines a front propagation technique, slice marching, and an anatomical model to guide the propagation for solving the particular case of touching vessels. The formulation of this method, which is based on interface evolution theory, enables easy integration of an a priori model of knowledge of vessels topology to handle the case of touching vessels, where image-based method systematically fails. The a priori knowledge is expressed as parametric curves that model vessels centerline. That information is injected in the fast marching method through the speed of propagation, setting it to zero at missing vessels boundaries. The model is intended to be re-used across patients, and must therefore be registered with the image.