Tracking 3-D coronary artery motion with biplane angiography

The motion of coronary arteries has attracted increasing attention because of its possible effects on the development of atherosclerosis. Biplane angiography is the best clinical modality so far to extract this information spatially and temporally. In this paper, a new method is proposed to track 3-D coronary artery segments in biplane angiogram sequences based on a 3-D deformable model. The model combines the 3-D active contour model with image block matching technique, and considers both global and local motion of the vessel. By this new method, the coronary artery segment can be tracked well over a cardiac cycle.