A viewpoint determination system for stenosis diagnosis and quantification in coronary angiographic image acquisition

This paper describes the usefulness of computer assistance in the acquisition of "good" images for stenosis diagnosis and quantification in coronary angiography. The system recommends the optimal viewpoints from which stenotic lesions can be observed clearly based on images obtained from initial viewpoints. First, the viewpoint dependency of the apparent severity of a stenotic lesion is experimentally analyzed using software phantoms in order to show the seriousness of the problem. The implementation of the viewpoint determination system is then described. The system provides good user-interactive tools for the semiautomated estimation of the orientation and diameter of stenotic segments and the three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of vessel structures. Using these tools, viewpoints that will not give rise to foreshortening and vessel overlap can be efficiently determined. Experiments using real coronary angiograms show the system to be capable of the reliable diagnosis and quantification of stenosis.