An Automatic Seeding Method For Coronary Artery Segmentation and Skeletonization in CTA

Abstract

An automatic seeding method for coronary artery segmentation and skeletonization is presented. The new method includes automatic removal of the rib cage, tracing of the ascending aorta and initial planting of seeds for the coronary arteries. The automatic seeds are then passed on to a �virtual contrast injection� algorithm performing segmentation and skeletonization. In preliminary experiments, most main branches of the coronary tree were segmented and skeletonized without any user interaction.