Determination of vessel cross section for flow rate quantification

This study was motivated by the interest of measuring different cardiac par ameters for which changes in the flow rate during a cardiac cycle needs to be determined at different positions along a vessel segment. These measurem ents result in a great number of images for which automatic contour detecti on is very helpful. A model-based algorithm for intraluminal contour detect ion has been developed in order to allow an accurate quantitative image ana lysis. The algorithm permits to select contours automatically on all the fr ames and slices of an imaging study. Images obtained on a flow phantom simu lating the effects of blood circulation in large arteries have been used to validate the method. They were acquired with a specially designed interlea ved multi slice and phase sequence, using a standard whole-body 2 Tesla NMR scanner. A potential in vivo application of the algorithm has been demonst rated on abdominal aorta images. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.