Adjusting the input ultrasound image data and the atherosclerotic plaque detection in the carotid artery by the FOTOMNG system

Biotechnol Biotechnol Equip. 2014 May 4;28(3):567-575. doi: 10.1080/13102818.2014.924271. Epub 2014 Jul 10.

Abstract

Stroke is the third most frequent cause of death. Specifically, ischemic stroke accounts for the largest group of this kind of cases. Despite all the advances in medical therapeutic methods, no methods that would reliably reduce mortality from ischemic stroke have been found. Prevention is still the most significant way to combat stroke. When the frequent cause of ischemic stroke is atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery, its exploration can help to determine the development of the disease. These problems were very extensively discussed in October 2013 during the XVI International Neurosonology Congress in Sofia organized under the auspices of World Research Neurosonology Group, Bulgarian Neurosonology and Cerebral Hemodynamics Association. Our goal was to develop special modules for carotid artery picture processing (AVI file processing, reparation and reconstruction) and modules containing tools for automated carotid artery plaque detection; and to solve its measurement and three-dimensional modelling of the carotid artery and the plaque. New modules were implemented into the FOTOMNG system and tested on appropriate input data files, which verified their functionality and applicability.

Keywords: Chan Vese; Hough transform; active contour; anisotropic diffusion; atherosclerosis; gradient vector flow; phase correlation.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic [grant number GACR P103/13/08195S]; partially supported by the Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic [grant number SGS No. SP2014/42, VŠB]; and by Operational Programme Education for Competitiveness [grant number CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0072], Development of human resources in research and development of latest soft computing methods and their application in practice project.