Blood flow determination using recursive processing: a digital radiographic method

Temporal filtration of fluoroscopic video sequences is being used as an alternative to pulsed digital subtraction angiography. Using the same image processing architecture and a slight modification in processing logic a parametric image can be synthesized from such a temporally filtered image sequence in virtual real time, i.e., an image sequence that spans T seconds takes exactly T seconds to process. Off-line computer processing is not required. Initial phantom studies imply that the time to maximum opacification (tmax) can be used to determine absolute and relative blood flow with a high confidence level (r greater than .989). Phantom and animal examples are presented.