Classification of cross-sections for vascular skeleton extraction using convolutional neural networks

• Recent advances in Computed Tomography Angiography provide high-resolution 3D images of the vessels. However, there is an inevitable requisite for automated and fast methods to process the increased amount of generated data. In this work, we propose a fast method for vascular skeleton extraction which can be combined with a segmentation algorithm to accelerate the vessel delineation. The algorithm detects central voxels - nodes - of potential vessel regions in the orthogonal CT slices and uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify the true vessel nodes. The nodes are gradually linked together to generate an approximate vascular skeleton. The CNN classifier yields a precision of 0.81 and recall of 0.83 for the medium size vessels and produces a qualitatively evaluated enhanced representation of vascular skeletons.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik -- Medicinsk bildbehandling (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering -- Medical Image Processing (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Classification

Convolutional neural networks

CT angiography

Vascular skeleton

Computerized Image Processing

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