A Computer-Aided Diagnostic System using a Global Data Grid Repository for the Evaluation of Ultrasound Carotid Images

A computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) method of calculating lumen and wall thickness of carotid vessels is presented. The CAD is able to measure the geometry of the lumen and plaque surfaces in ultrasound carotid images using a least-square fitting of the active contours obtained automatically from the vessels border. To evaluate the approach, ultrasound image sequences from 30 patients were submitted to the procedure. The images were stored on an international data grid repository that consists of three international sites: IPI Laboratory at University of Southern California, USA; Heart Institute at University Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. The three chosen sites are connected with high speed international networks including the Internet, and the Brazilian ´National Research and Education Network (RNP2). The Data Grid was used to store, backup, and share the ultrasound images and analysis results, which provided a large-scale and a virtual data system.