Non-invasive evaluation of carotid artery wall thickness using improved dynamic programming technique

• Published in: Signal, image and video processing Vol. 2; no. 2; pp. 183 - 193
• Main Authors: Santhiyakumari, N., Madheswaran, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer-Verlag 01.06.2008
• Subjects: Computer Imaging; Computer Science; Image Processing and Computer Vision; Multimedia Information Systems; Original Paper; Pattern Recognition and Graphics; Signal,Image and Speech Processing; Vision; Dynamic programming (DP); B-mode ultrasound (US) image; Intima-media thickness (IMT); Atherosclerosis; Common carotid artery (CCA)
• ISSN: 1863-1703; 1863-1711
• DOI: 10.1007/s11760-007-0048-x

An improved dynamic programming (DP) segmentation technique for detecting the intima-media layer of the far wall of the common carotid artery (CCA) of longitudinal and transversal ultrasound (US) images using optimal search technique is presented here. The algorithm is developed considering the normalization and smoothing for estimating the intima media thickness (IMT) of the normal and abnormal subjects. The segmentation features of different subjects obtained using the proposed technique have been compared with the manual measurements. The results show that an inter-observer error and a coefficient of variation are found as ±0.035 mm and 3.55%, respectively. The magnitudes of the IMT values have been used to explore the rate of prediction of blockage existing in the cerebrovascular and cardiovascular pathologies, and also hypertension and atherosclerosis.