Method and system for automatic detection and classification of coronary stenoses in cardiac CT volumes

An apparatus for detecting coronary stenoses in a 3D CT volume, comprising:

• means for extracting coronary vessel centerlines from the 3D CT volume;
• means for estimating a lumen cross-section area based on the extracted coronary vessel centerlines using a trained regression function;
• and
• means for detecting stenosis candidates based on the estimated lumen cross-section area,
• wherein the means for estimating a lumen cross-section area based on the extracted coronary vessel centerlines using a trained regression function comprises:
• means for estimating the lumen cross-section area at each of a plurality of points in the extracted coronary vessel centerlines using the trained regression function.

A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions for detecting coronary stenoses in a 3D CT volume, the computer executable instructions defining steps comprising:

• extracting coronary vessel centerlines from the 3D CT volume;
• estimating a lumen cross-section area based on the extracted coronary vessel centerlines using a trained regression function;
• and
• detecting stenosis candidates based on the estimated lumen cross-section area,
• wherein the computer executable instructions defining the step of estimating a lumen cross-section area based on the extracted coronary vessel centerlines using a trained regression function comprise computer executable instructions defining the step of:
• estimating the lumen cross-section area at each of a plurality of points in the extracted coronary vessel centerlines using the trained regression function.