Quantitative measurement of coronary arterial morphologic and hemodynamic parameters

The problem of quantitative measures of morphologic and hemodynamic parameters of coronary arterial vessels is addressed. The geometrically correct 3D vessel model is firstly reconstructed based on fusion of X-ray coronary angiograms and intravascular ultrasound image sequence. Then, with the 3D vessel model, measures of clinically important morphologic parameters including vessel segment length, cross-sectional area, curvature, torsion, lumen volume and plaque volume are performed. The hemodynamic parameters, i.e., distribution of wall shear stress introduced by pulsatile blood flow within the vascular lumen are also estimated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology. Finally, the relationship between morphologic and hemodynamic indices of coronary vessels is discussed.