Automatic Aneurysm Neck Detection Using Surface Voronoi Diagrams

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical imaging 2011-10, Vol.30 (10), p.1863-1876
• Main Authors: Cardenes, R., Pozo, J. M., Bogunovic, H., Larrabide, I., Frangi, A. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Aneurysm; Arteries; Bifurcation; Centerline; cerebral aneurysms; Cerebral Angiography - methods; Databases, Factual; distance transform; Euclidean distance; fast marching; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Intracranial Aneurysm - pathology; Manuals; Neck; neck detection; Reproducibility of Results; surface metrics; Voronoi diagrams
• ISSN: 0278-0062; 1558-254X
• DOI: 10.1109/TMI.2011.2157698

A new automatic approach for saccular intracranial aneurysm isolation is proposed in this work. Due to the inter- and intra-observer variability in manual delineation of the aneurysm neck, a definition based on a minimum cost path around the aneurysm sac is proposed that copes with this variability and is able to make consistent measurements along different data sets, as well as to automate and speedup the analysis of cerebral aneurysms. The method is based on the computation of a minimal path along a scalar field obtained on the vessel surface, to find the aneurysm neck in a robust and fast manner. The computation of the scalar field on the surface is obtained using a fast marching approach with a speed function based on the exponential of the distance from the centerline bifurcation between the aneurysm dome and the parent vessels. In order to assure a correct topology of the aneurysm sac, the neck computation is constrained to a region defined by a surface Voronoi diagram obtained from the branches of the vessel centerline. We validate this method comparing our results in 26 real cases with manual aneurysm isolation obtained using a cut-plane, and also with results obtained using manual delineations from three different observers by comparing typical morphological measures.