PREOPERATIVE MEASUREMENT OF ANEURYSMS AND STENOSIS AND STENTSIMULATION FOR ENDOVASCULAR TREATMENT

This paper presents two methods to measure aneurysms and stenosis, and introduces a method for visualizing models of tube- and Y-stents virtually placed into preoperative CT-data. The measurement algorithms obtain characteristic dimensions of a vessel disease used to select a proper stent. A physical simulation of the forces interacting between stent and vessel walls allows the prediction of the stent shape after being expanded in the artery. For both measurement and simulation, our methods are based on active contours (ACM). Generating an initial contour requires the segmentation of the vascular structures followed by centerline determination. Starting from this centerline, the initial contours are constructed and fitted to the vessel walls. The paper presents the results of measurements and stent simulations for different clinical images (AAA, TAA, iliac aneurysm and carotid stenosis)