Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus for radiation diagnosis, e.g. combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/46—Apparatus for radiation diagnosis, e.g. combined with radiation therapy equipment with special arrangements for interfacing with the operator or the patient
  • A61B6/461—Displaying means of special interest
  • A61B6/466—Displaying means of special interest adapted to display 3D data
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus for radiation diagnosis, e.g. combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/02—Devices for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
  • A61B6/00—Apparatus for radiation diagnosis, e.g. combined with radiation therapy equipment
  • A61B6/50—Clinical applications
  • A61B6/504—Clinical applications involving diagnosis of blood vessels, e.g. by angiography
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T19/00—Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
  • G06T19/20—Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T7/00—Image analysis
  • G06T7/0002—Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
  • G06T7/0012—Biomedical image inspection
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2207/00—Indexing scheme for image analysis or image enhancement
  • G06T2207/30—Subject of image; Context of image processing
  • G06T2207/30004—Biomedical image processing
  • G06T2207/30101—Blood vessel; Artery; Vein; Vascular
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2210/00—Indexing scheme for image generation or computer graphics
  • G06T2210/41—Medical
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T2219/00—Indexing scheme for manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
  • G06T2219/20—Indexing scheme for editing of 3D models
  • G06T2219/2012—Colour editing, changing, or manipulating; Use of colour codes

Definitions

• the present invention relates to reconstruction, a display and analysis of vascular tree structures and more specifically relates to reconstruction and of a moving cardiovascular tree structure from sequences of and geographic images and analysis of such a reconstructed moving model.
• Co-pending patent application 09/444,138 teaches particular methods for accurately reconstructing a three-dimensional representation of a vascular tree structure from pairs of two-dimensional radiographic images each representing a view from a particular imaging angle.
• Such a three-dimensional reconstructed representation may be derived from, for example, a pair of images generated in a biplane radiographic imaging system or from a pair of images generated by a single plane radiographic imaging system positioned at each of two distinct viewing angles.
• Such a three-dimensional reconstructed representation of a vascular tree structure is useful, as known in the art, for visualizing the vascular structure and for quantitative analysis of various measured attributes and parameters of selected portions ofthe vascular tree structure. For example, as discussed in co-pending patent application 09/444,138 such quantitative analysis and visualization is helpful for clinical procedures involving vascular implants and bypass procedures.
• coronary arteries and veins are dynamic, curvilinear structures that have a great degree of individual to individual variability and tortuosity.
• percutaneous catheter-based interventional (i.e., therapeutic) procedures include a variety of coronary interventions, such as the placement of metal stents, atherectomy, radiation emitting catheters, devices to trap embolization of atherosclerotic debris, and placement of pacing electrodes in the coronary venous system.
• These procedures presently use two-dimensional X-ray based imaging as the sole or the major imaging modality for procedure guidance and quantification of key parameters. With the complex motions ofthe heart during each contraction, the degree of curvilinearity of coronary arteries undergoes a considerable change.
• the 3-D coronary arteries were reconstructed from a set of X-ray perspective projections by use of an algorithm from computed tomography. Due to the motion of heart, only a limited number of projections can be acquired. Therefore, accurate reconstruction and quantitative measurement are not easily achieved.
• the present invention solves the above and other problems, thereby advancing the state ofthe useful arts, by providing methods and associated systems for reconstructing, visualizing and analyzing a three-dimensional representation of a moving vascular tree structure from time varying sequences of radiographic images thereof.
• a broad purpose ofthe invention is to provide a novel patient-specific 4-D (e.g., 1-D in time varying space plus 3-D geometry) vascular model and to provide quantitative display tools to improve patient outcomes and enhance patient safety during, for example, percutaneous catheter-based interventions.
• these dynamic vascular trees can be displayed for an in-room advanced visual interface for the operator to better understand the target for intervention.
• the invention broadly consists of three major processes (1) reconstruction of moving vascular tree throughout its motion cycle, (2) establishment of temporal correspondence with the smoothness constraints, and (3) kinematic and deformation analysis ofthe reconstructed 3-D moving vascular trees throughout its movement cycle.
• the present invention provides methods and systems for reconstructing a moving coronary arterial tree throughout its cardiac cycle movement, establishment of temporal correspondence between sequences of imaging frames, and quantitative analysis of various kinematic and deformation measures of the reconstructed, displayed three-dimensional moving coronary arterial tree.
• Figure 1 is a flowchart describing the overall precessing of methods ofthe present invention.
• Figures 2a-2c respectively show an example of a manually identified 2-D coronary arterial tree superimposed to the corresponding image, the initially identified 2-D model corresponding thereto and the corresponding final 2-D coronary arterial tree.
• Figure 3 depicts the determination of correspondences using the epi-polar plane.
• Figures 4a-4b depict corresponding points from two views.
• Figure 5 shows a refinement process employed to calculate the refined correspondence using optimal parametric arguments.
• Figures 6a and 6b provide an exemplary pair of angiograms from two angles.
• Figure 6c shows a first reconstruction ofthe arterial tree represented by figures 6a and 6b.
• Figure 6d shows a refined reconstruction ofthe arterial tree represented by figures 6a and 6b.
• Figure 7a and 7b show a refined reconstructed arterial tree and a skeletal representation thereof, respectively.
• Figure 8 shows an exemplary global flexion analysis for a representative selected segment of a reconstructed arterial tree.
• Figures 9a and 9b show two sequences of six images of an arterial tree for each of two viewing angles, respectively.
• Figures 9c-9k show the color coded results of an exemplary 3-D reconstruction ofthe sequences of figures 9a and 9b as deformation analysis and kinematic analysis.
• Figures 10a and 10b show two sequences of six images of an arterial tree for each of two viewing angles, respectively.
• Figures 10c- 10k show the color coded results of an exemplary 3-D reconstruction ofthe sequences of figures 10a and 10b as deformation analysis and kinematic analysis.
• Figure 11 is a sequence of exemplary, color-coded, curvature analysis displays corresponding to a first selected view of a reconstructed 3-D arterial tree.
• Figure 12 is a sequence of exemplary, color-coded, curvature analysis displays corresponding to a second selected view of a reconstructed 3-D arterial tree.
• Figure 13 is a flowchart of a method to determine a transformation matrix for each pair of images in a sequence of cine arteriograms.
• Figure 14 is a flowchart describing a method to determine correspondences between images in a sequence of cine arteriograms.
• vascular and arterial tree structures as well as cardiovascular structures. As the terms relate to the present invention, all such vascular and arterial tree structures may be considered equivalent. Applications ofthe present invention are readily apparent in analysis of cardiovascular structures. Other applications for other vascular and arterial structures are similarly apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. References herein to cardiac structures and motion should therefore be understood not as limitations on the application ofthe invention nor as limitations on the structures or methods ofthe claimed invention. Rather, all references to any particular vascular or arterial structure should be broadly understood to represent any arterial or vascular structure for which cine images of motion can be generated.
• a first aspect ofthe present invention provides methods and associated systems for 3-D reconstruction of a vascular tree structure.
• Prior methods taught by co-pending patent application 09/444,138 are enhanced and extended herein to accurately reconstruct the moving coronary arterial trees throughout the cardiac cycle based on two sequences of cine angiograms acquired from a biplane or single-plane imaging system.
• the present reconstruction method broadly comprises four major steps: (A) acquisition of two angiogram sequences based on a single-plane or biplane imaging system, (B) identification of 2-D coronary arterial trees and feature extractions including bifurcation points, vessel diameters, and vessel directional vectors in the two image sequences, (C) determination of transformation in terms of a global T g and a local transformation T k matrices based on the identified vessel features, and (D) calculation of moving 3-D coronary arterial trees based on the transformations and extracted vessel features.
• a standard coronary arteriogram may be completed in two standard views; one injection in a biplane system and two injections in a single plane imaging system.
• Such images may be acquired at a rate of 15 frames per second in each view throughout the cardiac cycle in each ofthe two views.
• the images may be selected with the aid ofthe superimposed electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and transferred to an appropriate personal computer or workstation for the 3-D reconstruction process.
• ECG electrocardiogram
• the images may be at a resolution of 512 x 512 matrix with a pixel color depth of one byte per pixel or any other desired resolution and pixel color depth.
• Radiographic systems and methods are common for generating such images.
• MRI magnetic resonance imaging
• CT Computer tomography
• All such sources of images are useful in association with the reconstruction aspects, features, methods and systems ofthe present invention.
• An interactive, computer-based, semi-automatic system based on the technique of deformation model and segmentation may be employed as known in the art for the identification ofthe 2-D coronary arterial tree in the acquired angiograms.
• the required user interaction involves only the indication of several points inside the lumen, near the projection of each vessel centerline in the angiogram.
• a spline-curve may be formed based on the selected points.
• the spline-curve may serve as the initial centerline of a corresponding vessel.
• An m by m operator ridge operator
• the identified pixels serve as the external forces to act on the initial.model curve such that it will be gradually deformed and finally reside on the real centerline ofthe vessel.
• Co-pending patent application 09/444,138 provides a detailed discussion of such processes of feature extraction for a single, static pair of angiograms.
• the identified centerlines and the branching relationships may be used for construction ofthe vessel hierarchy in each angiogram by their labeling according to the appropriate anatomy and connectivity among the primary and secondary coronary arteries.
• the 2-D coronary arterial tree on the image acquired at the first time frame After the 2-D coronary arterial tree on the image acquired at the first time frame is obtained, it may be used as the initial 2-D arterial tree model for identification of he coronary arterial tree on the angiogram acquired at the next time frame.
• the ridge operator and deformable model may be employed as described previously such that the initial model curve is gradually aligned with the real centerline of vessel. Such a procedure may be performed iteratively to identify the 2-D coronary arterial trees with the associated coronary features in each angiogram sequences.
• Figure 1 is a flowchart depicting the 2-D feature extraction as an iterative process where the first image in the sequence of images may be used as an initial centerline approximation for the next image and so on for each image in the sequence.
• element 100 is first operable to access the next (first) image pair in the pair of cine angiogram sequences.
• cardiovascular structures are but one example of a useful application of such sequences of radiographic images. Numerous other examples of dynamic, moving vascular tree structures will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• Element 102 determines whether this image pair is the first in the sequence of images.
• processing continues with element 104 to receive user input to identify a sequence of points and landmarks along the vascular tree 2D images to permit 3D reconstruction ofthe vascular structure at this first image pair from the sequence of time varying image pairs. Processing then continues as below with element 108. If element 102 determines that this is not the first image pair in the sequences of time varying image pairs, then element 106 is next operable to display the next pair of images in the time varying sequences superimposed with a 2D projection ofthe identified tree structure from the previous image pair with the identified points therefrom. Element 106 also receives user input to move the displayed point to new locations corresponding to the same points in the next time varying pair of images. Processing then continues with element 108.
• Element 108 is then operable to align the 2D model ofthe present displayed pair of images according to the deformation discussed herein. Specifically, the 2D model is adjusted according to smoothness constraints and other constraints as discussed further herein below.
• element 110 and 112 are operable to optionally receive user input to adjust the automatically determined projection. In particular, element 110 determines whether the user desires to make such adjustments and if so, element 112 receives user input to define any such adjustments.
• Element 114 is then operable determine parameters ofthe reconstruction process (identify bifurcation points, vessel diameters and direction vectors) and to construct the 3D representation ofthe vascular tree corresponding to the present time varying image pair. Element 116 then determines if this was the last image in the time varying sequences of images. If not, the process continues by looping back to element 100 to process the next pair of images from the time varying sequences of images.
• Figure 2a shows an example of a manually identified 2-D coronary arterial tree superimposed to the corresponding image.
• Figure 2b shows this initially identified 2-D model (of figure 2a) superimposed to the next image in conjunction with the optical calculation.
• the final 2-D coronary arterial tree may be obtained as shown in figure 2c.
• C. Determination of transformations characterizing two pairs of angiographic views By use of a biplane or single-plane system for image acquisitions, the spatial relationship between any two views can be characterized by a transformation in the forms of a rotation matrix R and a translation vector with the X-ray source (or focal spot) served as the origin of 3-D coordinate space.
• the second projection view of the biplane imaging system can be describe in terms of a second pair of image and object coordinate systems u' v' and x'y' z' defined in an analogous manner.
• the geometrical relationship between the two views can be characterized by
• the transformation may be calculated based on the identified bifurcation points and direction vectors ofthe 2-D coronary arterial trees in each view.
• the required prior information i.e., the intrinsic parameters of each single-plane imaging system
• SID focal-spot to imaging-plane distance
• ze e.g., .3 mm pixel
• iso-center distance with respect to which the rotary motion of the gantry arm rotates
• n denotes the number of pairs of corresponding points extracted from the two images
• v, and v , denote the respective 2-D vessel directional vectors of bifurcations in each views
• v jv
• ,v 2 ,...,v n j and v'
• FIG. 13 is a flowchart describing a method ofthe present invention to determine a transformation for each pair of images.
• Element 1300 first determines a global transformation T g as discussed further herein below.
• the calculated R g and t are the estimates that characterize the two image sequences.
• each pair of angiograms may be acquired almost simultaneously throughout the cardiac cycle. Therefore, the global transformation is feasible to define each pair of images acquired from different time frames.
• the two image sequences maybe acquired independently (i.e., two separate injections) corresponding to two different single cardiac cycles.
• the global transformation may not truly characterize every pair of images throughout the cardiac cycle; especially for those image pairs near the end-systolic time frame.
• c k denotes the respective y ' -th column vectors of matrix R k
• represent the matrix and vector norms
• d r and d. denote the upper bounds of respective k k k norms, (?,-, ?,) and ?'., ? '.
• this information may be used to establish the point correspondences on each pair of 2-D vessel centerlines and calculate 3-D structures of coronary arterial tree.
• the transformation in conjunction with the epi-polar constraints and vessel hierarchy may be employed as the framework for calculation.
• the epi-polar plane and each image plane intersect along a straight line called the epi-polar line (as labeled in figure 3). Therefore, the location of point P b in the second image must lie on the epi-polar line resulting from the intersection between the second image plane and the plane defined by point P a and the two focal spots.
• FIG. 4a shows a first angiogram with four identified points: A, B, C and D.
• Figure 4b shows the matching angiogram from another view angle with the corresponding four points a, b, c and d established by the initial correspondence.
• FIG 14 provides a flowchart describing a method ofthe present invention to compute correspondences between points in each pair of images in the sequence.
• Element 1400 is first operable to calculate an initial point correspondence for the k-t pair of images based on epi-polar constraints and the corresponding transformation T k .
• Element 1402 refines the correspondences based on individual pairs of arterial segments and a nonlinear optimization.
• Element 1404 refines the determination of vessel centerlines and diameters.
• Element 1406 causes the processing of elements 1400, 1402 and 1404 to repeat for each ofthe k time frames ofthe sequence.
• Figure 5 shows a typical result ofthe refinement process employed to calculate the refined correspondence using optimal parametric arguments s l ,s 2 ,. .. s n _ i s n based on the following equation:
• n k denotes the number of points ofthe 2-D vessel centerline at the k-t time frame
• fi are the respective spline-curve model and extracted 2-D vessel centerline points in two views, f' s - l l ( , f y ⁇ s . ) and v' .
• the vessel centerline correspondences are globally established by incorporating the entire vessel shape in terms of directions and locations that will yield more accurate results than those obtained by only use of epi-polar constraints with local vessel segment points; especially when epi-polar line and vessel segment are tangential.
• Figures 6c and 6d show the results of 3-D left coronary arterial (LCA) reconstructed from a pair of angiograms as shown in figures 6a and 6b based on the simple epi-polar technique and the refinement process, respectively.
• the reconstruction of left main artery apparently illustrates inaccurate results based on the simple epi-polar process (figure 6c) which are corrected after employing the refinement process (corrected as in figure 6d).
• the incorrect reconstruction of figure 6c is caused by the complete occlusion ofthe mid-LAD section ofthe
• rk v denotes the component ofthe rotational matrix R k at the &-th time frame.
• the anatomical morphology of coronary arterial tree can then be generated by a surface based reproduction technique.
• the 3-D lumen surface is modeled on the basis of a sequence of cross-sectional contours.
• Each contour S, along the vessel is represented by a d- m circular disk centered at and perpendicular to the 3-D vessel centerline.
• the surfaces between every pair of consecutive contour S, and S /+1 are generated based on a number of polygonal patches.
• s ⁇ — ⁇ s Xj , s 2j , ... , s ntj > denotes the set of parametric variables corresponding to the 3-D vessel centerline points ofthe artery / .
• T and N* denote the tangent and normal vectors at point P .
• the parametric curve function /* • (*';) defines the centerline points of the artery / .
• the module of elasticity at one vessel centerline point is defined to be inverse proportional to the area ofthe cross section (i.e., KI J oc 1 Id ).
• Numerous standard mathematics library functions are readily available to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• the subroutines vel7 and vfl3 of Harwell Subroutine Library may be employed to solve the above equation. (Harwell Subroutine Library, vol. Vz, AEA Technology, Harwell Laboratory, Oxfordshire, England, December 1995).
• the first term in the above minimization equation defines the required minimal kinetic energy due to motion and the second term characterizes the minimal change in potential energy due to arterial segment stretching or foreshortening between k and k' time frames.
• the local shape similarity between the two coronary arteries is characterized based on the last two terms by minimizing the total angle differences of tangent and normal vectors at every pair of corresponding points on the respective arteries.
• the temporal correspondence of vessel centerline points between any two time frames e.g., end-diastole and end-systole
• a regularization solution may be obtained by minimizing an energy ofthe following form
• A is a set of indices to the sample data points, x,'s are the locations of the data points, ⁇ ⁇ 0 is a weighting factor and n ⁇ 1 is an integer number.
• the first term on the right hand side called the closeness term, imposes the constraint from the data d.
• the second term called the smoothness term or the regularizer, imposes the a priori smoothness constraint on the solution. It is desired to minimize both but they may not be each minimized simultaneously.
• the two constraints are balanced by ⁇ . Any /minimizing the above equation may be a smooth solution in the so-called Sobolev space W . In the Sobolev space, every point of/is a function whose!
• the employed smoothness constraints function is a Bezier surface function S u,vj that is formed as the Cartesian product of Bezier blending functions: m n
• Bj,m(u) and B ⁇ ,n(v) are polynomial functions of degree one less than the number of control points used (i.e., at least a third order derivative function) and may be defined as
• the analysis features and aspects ofthe present invention may be applied to any reconstructed 3-D representation of an arterial tree structure.
• the above- identified methods and structures for such reconstruction and smoothing are but one exemplary technique believed to generate highly accurate representations ofthe arterial structure. Numerous other methods and structure for generating such a 3-D representation will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• rotational angiography systems and techniques are rapidly developing that are capable of generating 3-D representations of moving arterial tree structures.
• the skeleton of a reconstructed 3-D vessel may be mathematically defined as a curve function p (s) - (x(s),y(s),z(s)) connecting all the 3-D centerline points.
• a right coronary arterial (RCA) tree shown in figure 7a as a full 3D reconstruction and in and 7b as a skeleton structure, where 0 ⁇ s ⁇ 1 is the parametric variable.
• the employed parametric function is a Bezier curve ? (5) that is formed as the Cartesian product of Bezier blending functions: m pis) - ⁇ pjBj, m (s), O ⁇ s ⁇ l,
• Bj,m(s) is a polynomial function of degree one less than the number of control points used (i.e., at least a third order derivative function) and is defined as above.
• B g , m(u) is a polynomial function of degree one less than the number of control points as described in the above equations.
• r y (w),r ( l( ) andr (2 j(w) can be derived that define two other motion parameters in terms of velocity and acceleration for every vessel centerline point as
• the F-S theory consists of five components: three vector fields along the given curve (the tangent T(s), the normal N(s), and the bi-normal B(s) vectors) and two scalar valued functions (the curvature ?(s) and the torsion t(s)) where s denotes the parametric variable defining the location of point on the curve function(s).
• the curvature ?(s 0 ) measures the rate of change of the angle defined by the two neighboring tangents T(s 0 ) and -t so+d.) associated with the two points ?(s 0 ) and ?(s 0 +d s ).
• the torsion at t(s 0 ) measures a rate of change (or twisting) at a point ?(s 0 ) how its trajectory twists out ofthe plane O t perpendicular to the normal vector B(s 0 )).
• N(so) B(so) x T(so)
• the analysis may be performed by comparing the coronary trees reconstructed at two different time frames k and k'.
• the enclosed angle ? k (? k ) may be defined as the angle formed by two chords that extend from a point along the centerline to the location with the minimal length between a pre-defined length ⁇ (e.g., 5 mm) and the next local minimal curvature d c in each direction as shown in figure 8.
• the enclosed angle may be calculated for every point of the centerlines between the two time frames.
• the local maximum with the value greater than a threshold s (e.g., 15 degrees) is marked as a flexion point (FP) with bending movement.
• the local minimum with the value less than a threshold -s (e.g., -15 degrees) is marked as a flexion point (FP) with straightening movement.
• the threshold value can be chosen dynamically within a range (e.g., 7.5 degrees - 45 degrees) such that different sets of FPs can be calculated.
• the kinematic and deformation measurements r , r*'* , r ⁇ y , ?(s), t(s) and ? ⁇ ex may be color coded on the lumen of moving coronary arterial tree. Seven colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, cyanic, and purple) may be used to represent the magnitudes of each kinetic measurement. The magnitude of each measurement throughout the cardiac cycle are divided into 7 sub-regions corresponding to each color where the red color denotes the largest magnitude and purple color represents the smallest magnitude. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that any number of colors and gradations of colors maybe used to represent the dynamic measures.
• FIGS 9a and 9b an example is shown of a pair of left coronary cine angiograms acquired between end-diastole and end-systole using a single-plane imaging system.
• figure 9a is a sequence of six (6) from a first angle of a single plane imaging system
• figure 9b is a second sequence of six (6) images from a different angle ofthe same single plane imaging system. Both image sequences cover (in six frames) an entire cardiac cycle ofthe movement ofthe coronary arterial tree.
• Figures 9c through 9k show the color coded results ofthe reconstruction as deformation analysis and kinematic analysis.
• figure 9c indicates the degree of curvature ofthe arterial tree over its range of motion through the cardiac cycle, six images are shown superimposed over one another corresponding to the six images in the original cine angiogram sequences. For clarity of this presentation, only one ofthe six 3D, color coded images is shown atop the others with others shown “greyed” out as "shadow” 3D images behind the top most image.
• the sequence of images may preferably be presented to the user as a sequence of 3D reconstructed images, each color coded to express a particular quantitative measure (if selected), such that the user may view the structure as a moving 3D model ofthe dynamic vascular structure.
• the user may interact with the system to select a particular "frame" ofthe 3D reconstructed views or may sequence through the frames in fast or slow motion to view the overall motion ofthe vascular structure.
• a user may also request the quantitative analysis of a selected attribute so as to present the 3D model with color coding to represent the dynamic measure of the selected attribute through the cycle of motion ofthe vascular tree.
• FIG. 10a Another example is shown of right coronary .cine angiograms acquired between end-diastole and end-systole, also from a single-plane imaging, in figures 10a and 10b.
• the reconstructed dynamic 3-D coronary arterial trees with the corresponding kinematic and deformation analyses are shown in figures 10c, lOd and lOe and figures lOf, lOg and lOh.
• the components of displacement, velocity, and acceleration along x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis are shown in Figs. lOi, lOj and 10k, respectively.
• Figures 9c-9k and 10c- 10k show a sequence of time varying, color-coded displays indicating the value of a dynamic measure by the color coding at the corresponding section of the reconstructed 3-D arterial display.
• the depiction ofthe time varying sequences of figures 9c-9k and 10c- 10k show the sequences of images overlaying one another on each figure with the last color-coded image ofthe sequence depicted on top. Earlier images in the sequence are shown "greyed” or "shadowed.”
• Figure 11 shows a similar sequence of color-coded 3-D arterial reconstructions as a sequence of 6 individual frames rather than overlayed as shown in figures 9c-9k and 10c- 10k.
• the sequence of displays in figure 11 represent an exemplary arterial tree display color-coded for curvature through the six frame sequence.
• Figure 12 shows a similar sequence of images color-coded for curvature measures but viewed from an alternate selected viewing angle. While the invention has been illustrated and described in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description is to be considered as exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment and minor variants thereof have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit ofthe invention are desired to be protected.
• the features ofthe invention to reconstruct a 3-D representation of cine-angiographic images may be implemented as an appropriately programmed general or special purpose computer, as computational and imaging electronics and devices as may be commercially available or as custom computational and imaging devices and electronics, or as combinations of such software, firmware and hardware components.
• Such design choices among such a variety of means are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

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• 2002
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