Plaques in femoral and iliac arteries by slice tomography

Goal:The investigation is aimed at the development of a semi-automatic method of examining the femoral and iliac arteries and quantifying atherosclerotic plaques visible in the multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) images. Methods: We have utilized the advanced morphology and segmentation methods for processing of a series of the images. In particular, a novel sorted pixel intensity approach to segment the artery into the lumen/plaque regions has been used and effectively combined with the Gaussian mixture modelling (GMM) to increase the accuracy of the segmentation.

Results: Our numerical results are compared with those obtained manually by two experts. Statistics relevant to the progression of atherosclerosis have also been suggested. Results of the semi-automatic tracking of the femoral and iliac arteries and of the quantitative evaluation of atherosclerotic alterations therein have been shown to correspond well with the expert’s results. Conclusion: The developed system is likely to be valuable tool for supporting the quantitative evaluation of atherosclerotic changes in arteries. Significance: In its present form the system can be used for planning surgical treatment and/or predicting the course of the atherosclerotic alterations.