Automatic measurement of contrast bolus distribution in carotid arteries using a C-arm angiography system to support interventional perfusion imaging

摘要

Brain perfusion CT using a C-arm angiography system capable of CT-like imaging could optimize patient treatment during stroke therapy procedures. For this application, an intra-arterial contrast bolus injection at the aortic arch could be used provided that the location of the injection catheter enables uniform distribution of the bolus into the two common carotid arteries (CCA). In this work, we present a novel method to support optimal injection catheter placement by providing additional quantitative information about the distribution of the contrast bolus into the CCAs. Our fully automatic method uses 2-D digital subtraction angiography (DSA) images following a test bolus injection. It segments both CCAs and computes the relative contrast distribution. We have tested the method in DSA data sets from 5 healthy pigs and our method achieved successful segmentation of both CCAs in all data sets. The results showed that the contrast is uniformly distributed (mean relative difference less or equal than 10%) if the injection location is properly chosen.