Dynamic feature extraction of coronary artery motion using DSA image sequences

This paper aims to define and describe features of the motion of coronary arteries in two and three dimensions, presented as geometrical parameters that identify motion patterns. The main left coronary artery centerlines, obtained from digital subtraction angiography (DSA) image sequences, are first reconstructed. Thereafter, global and local motion features are evaluated along the sequence. The global attributes are centerline and point trajectory lengths, displacement amplitude, and virtual reference point, while local attributes are displacement direction, perpendicular/radial components, rotation direction, and curvature and torsion. These kinetic features allow the authors to obtain a detailed quantitative description of the displacements of arteries´ centerlines, as well as associated epicardium deformations. The authors´ modeling of local attributes as quasi-homogeneous on a segment analysis, enables them to propose a novel numeric to symbolic image transformation, which provides the required facts for knowledge-based motion interpretation. Experimental results using real data are consistent with cardiac dynamic behavior.