Method and apparatus for three-dimensional reconstruction of coronary vessels from angiographic images

A method for three-dimensional reconstruction of a target object from two-dimensional images, said target object having a plurality of branch-like vessels, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) placing the target object in a position to be scanned by a biplane imaging system, said biplane imaging system having first and second imaging portions;
• b) acquiring biplane projection images of the target object, each imaging portion providing a biplane projection image of the target object, each imaging portion disposed at an unknown orientation relative to the other imaging portion;
• c) identifying two-dimensional vessel centerlines for a predetermined number of the vessels in each of the biplane projection images;
• d) creating a vessel hierarchy data structure for each biplane projection image, said data structure including the identified two-dimensional vessel centerlines defined by a plurality of data points in the vessel hierarchy data structure;
• e) calculating a predetermined number of bifurcation points for each biplane projection image by traversing the corresponding vessel hierarchy data structure, said bifurcation points defined by intersections of the two-dimensional vessel centerlines;
• f) determining a transformation in the form of a rotation matrix and a translation vector utilizing non-linear constrained minimization techniques and the bifurcation points corresponding to each of the biplane projections images, said non-linear constrained minimization techniques minimizing the square of the distance between the bifurcation points and projections of calculated three-dimensional points, said rotation matrix and said translation vector representing biplane imaging parameters corresponding to the orientation of each imaging portion relative to the other imaging portion of the biplane imaging system;
• g) utilizing the data points and the transformation to establish a correspondence between the two-dimensional vessel centerlines corresponding to each of the biplane projection images such that each data point corresponding to one biplane projection image is linked to a data point corresponding to the other biplane projection image, said linked data points representing an identical location in the vessel of the target object;
• h) calculating three-dimensional vessel centerlines utilizing the two-dimensional vessel centerlines and the correspondence between the data points of the two-dimensional vessel centerlines;
• and
• i) reconstructing a three-dimensional visual representation of the target object based on the three-dimensional vessel centerlines and diameters of each vessel estimated along the three-dimensional centerline of each vessel.

A method for three-dimensional reconstruction of a target object from two-dimensional images, said target object having a plurality of branch-like vessels, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) placing the target object in a position to be scanned by a single-plane system, said imaging system having one imaging portion;
• b) acquiring projection images of the target object, the imaging portion providing a plurality of projection images of the target object produced at different times, each projection image produced during an identical phase of a cardiac cycle of the target object, the imaging portion corresponding to one of the plurality of projection images disposed at an unknown orientation relative to the imaging portion corresponding to the others of the plurality of projection images;
• c) identifying two-dimensional vessel centerlines for a predetermined number of the vessels in each of the projection images;
• d) creating a vessel hierarchy data structure for each projection image, said data structure including the identified two-dimensional vessel centerlines defined by a plurality of data points in the vessel hierarchy data structure;
• e) calculating a predetermined number of bifurcation points for each projection image by traversing the corresponding vessel hierarchy data structure, said bifurcation points defined by intersections of the two-dimensional vessel centerlines;
• f) determining a transformation in the form of a rotation matrix and a translation vector utilizing non-linear constrained minimization techniques and the bifurcation points corresponding to each of the projections images, said non-linear constrained minimization techniques minimizing the square of the distance between the bifurcation points and projections of calculated three-dimensional points, said rotation matrix and said translation vector representing imaging parameters corresponding to the relative orientations of the imaging portion corresponding to the plurality of projection images;
• g) utilizing the data points and the transformation to establish a correspondence between the two-dimensional vessel centerlines corresponding to each of the projection images such that each data point corresponding to one projection image is linked to a data point corresponding to the other projection images, said linked data points representing an identical location in the vessel of the target object;
• h) calculating three-dimensional vessel centerlines utilizing the two-dimensional vessel centerlines and the correspondence between the data points of the two-dimensional vessel centerlines;
• and
• i) reconstructing a three-dimensional visual representation of the target object based on the three-dimensional vessel centerlines and diameters of each vessel estimated along the three-dimensional centerline of each vessel.