Snake modeling and distance transform approach to vascular centerline extraction and quantification

Maddah, Mahnaz; Soltanian-Zadeh, Hamid; Afzali-Kusha, Ali

doi:10.1016/S0895-6111(03)00040-5

« Previous Next »Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics
Volume 27, Issue 6 , Pages 503-512, November 2003

Snake modeling and distance transform approach to vascular centerline extraction and quantification

Mahnaz Maddah
- Control and Intelligent Processing Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- Signal and Image Processing Group, School of Intelligent Systems, Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, Tehran, Iran
Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh
- Control and Intelligent Processing Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- Signal and Image Processing Group, School of Intelligent Systems, Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, Tehran, Iran
- Image Analysis Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Henry Ford Health System, One Ford Place, 2F, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- Corresponding author. Address: Image Analysis Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Henry Ford Health System, One Ford Place, 2F, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. Tel.: +1-313-874-4482; fax: +1-313-874-4494
Ali Afzali-Kusha
- Control and Intelligent Processing Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Received 4 October 2002; received in revised form 14 April 2003; accepted 14 April 2003.

Abstract

A new method for fully automated centerline extraction and quantification of microvascular structures in confocal microscopy (CM) images is presented. Our method uses the idea of active contour models as well as path planning and distance transforms for the three-dimensional centerline extraction of elongated objects such as vessels. The proposed approach is especially efficient for centerline extraction of complex branching structures. The method performance is validated in several CM images of both normal and stroked rat brains as well as simulated objects. The results confirm the efficiency of the proposed method in extracting the medial curve of vessels, which is essential for the computation of quantitative parameters.

Keywords: Active contour models, Centerline extraction, Vascular quantification, Confocal microscopy