Segmentation of 3D vasculatures for interventional radiology simulation

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2011:163:599-605.

Abstract

Training in interventional radiology is slowly shifting towards simulation which allows the repetition of many interventions without putting the patient at risk. Accurate segmentation of anatomical structures is a prerequisite of realistic surgical simulation. Therefore, our aim is to develop a generic approach to provide fast and precise segmentation of various virtual anatomies covering a wide range of pathology, directly from patient CT/MRA images. This paper presents a segmentation framework including two segmentation methods: region model based level set segmentation and hierarchical segmentation. We compare them to an open source application ITK-SNAP which provides similar approaches. The subjective human influence such as inconsistent inter-observer errors and aliasing artifacts etc. are analysed. The proposed segmentation techniques have been successfully applied to create a database of various anatomies with different pathologies, which is used in computer-based simulation for interventional radiology training.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Angiography / methods*
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Blood Vessels / anatomy & histology*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Models, Anatomic*
  • Models, Cardiovascular*
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods*
  • Radiography, Interventional / methods*