A Measurement System to Realize 3-D Carotid Occlusion Measurement From 2-D Conventional Ultrasonography

A novel measurement system for the 3-D reconstruction of occlusions of the carotid artery is presented. The proposed system can be added onto a conventional diagnostic ultrasonographic system, so that it can be considered as an upgrade for preexisting equipments. It retrieves information from a set of ordinary 2-D ultrasound images and spatial sensors in order to build a 3-D representation of the vessel and of a possible occlusion and to extract measurements of important medical parameters from them. The geometrical modeling of carotid is dealt with. This paper is also concerned with a metrological characterization of the measurement procedure, including the development of a model for the estimation of the uncertainty according to international standards. Experimental results are also reported and discussed.