Coronary Artery Centerline Tracking Using Axial Symmetries

Abstract

We present a method for tracking a coronary artery centerline given a single user supplied distal endpoint. Briefly, we first isolate the aorta and compute its surface. Next, we apply a novel two-stage Hough-like election scheme to the image volume to detect points which exhibit axial symmetry (vessel centerpoints). From the axial symmetry image a graph is constructed. This graph is searched for the optimal path from the user supplied point to any point on the surface of the aorta. Our technique falls under Challenge 2 of the Coronary Artery Tracking Challenge.