Quantification of 3-D coronary arterial motion using clinical biplane cineangiograms

Speculation that the motion of the coronary arteries might be involved in t he pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis has generated growing interest in the study of this motion. Accordingly, a system has been developed to qu antify 3-D coronary arterial motion using clinical biplane cineangiograms. Exploiting the temporal continuity of sequential angiographic images, a tem plate matching technique is designed to track the non-uniform frame-to-fram e motion of coronary arteries without assuming that the vessels experience uniform axial strain. The implementation of the system is automated by a co arse-to-fine matching process, thus improving the efficiency and objectivit y of motion analysis. The system has been validated and employed to charact erize the in vivo motion dynamics of human coronary arteries; illustrative results show that this system is a promising tool for routine clinical and laboratory analysis of coronary arterial motion.