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 INTRODUCTION
‡ AUTOMATIC SEGMENTATION OF THE
ARTERIAL LUMEN FROM
ULTRASOUND IMAGES IS A
CHALLANGING TASK IN CLINICAL
DIAGONOSIS.
‡ IN THIS PAPER, AN ACTIVE
CONTOUR BASED METHODOLOGY IS
SUGGESTED,INITIALIZED BY THE HT
CIRCLE.
 IMPORTANCE OF CAROTID
ARTERY DIAGNOSIS
‡ ULTRASOUND IMAGING OF THE CAROTID
ARTERY IS WIDELY USED IN THE
DIAGNOSIS OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS
BECAUSE IT ALLOWS NON INBASIVE
ASSESSMENT OF THE DEGREE OF
STENOSIS AS WELL AS OF PLAGUE
MORPHOLOGY.
‡ TO AUTOMATE THE DIAGNOSTIC
PROCEDURE AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION
OF THE ARTERIAL WALL BOUNDARIES IS
IMPORTANT.
 DISADVANTAGES IN
PREVIOUSLY USED METHODS
‡ MANUAL OUTLINING OF THE WALL-
LUMEN INTERFACE BY HUMAN
OBSERVERS REQUIRES EXPERIENCE.
‡ IT IS TEDIOUS AND PRONE TO
VARIABILITY, ESPECIALLY WHEN
NOISY IMAGES,SUCH AS
ULTRASOUND IMAGES ARE USED.
 PURPOSE OF THE PAPER
‡ THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER WAS
TO INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBILITY
OF USING THE HT(HOUGH
TRANSFORM) TO INITIALISE AN
ACTIVE-CONTOUR-BASED
METHODOLOGY IN AN ATTEMPT TO
ACCURATELY DETECT THE CAROTID
ARTERY WALL FROM ULTRASOUND
IMAGES.
 METHODOLOGY
‡ A TOTAL OF TEN B-MODE ULTRASOUND IMAGE
SEQUENCES OF THE COMMON CAROTID
ARTERY WERE RECORDED.
‡ FOR EACH SUBJECT IMAGE SEQUENCES WERE
OBTAINED WITH AN ATL(ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY)
‡ FOR EACH SUBJECT AN IMAGE SEQUENCE OF
A TRANSVERSE SECTION WAS RECORDED.
‡ THE SEQUENCES WERE RECORDED AT A RATE
OF 25 FRAMES PER SECONDS FOR
APPROXIMATELY 3 SECONDS(2-3CARDIAC
CYCLES)DURING BREATHE HOLDING.
 METHODOLOGY
‡ THE IMAGES WERE TRANSFERRED
TO A MAGNET OPTICAL DISC AND
THEN COPIED TO A COMPACT DISC.
‡ THEN THEY WERE COPIED TO A
PERSONAL COMPUTER WHERE THE
ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED.
 APPLYING HOUGH
TRANSFORM(HT)
‡ APPLICATION OF THE HT METHODOLOGY
ALLOWS THE ESTIMATION OF A CIRCLE,
WHICH IS SUSEQUENTLY USED FOR
INITIALIZING THE ACTIVE CONTOUR.
‡ THE HT INITIALIZED METHODOLOGY
FOLLOWS MORE CLOSELY THE ACTUAL
ARTERIAL WALL BOUNDARY WHICH
GIVES MORE INFORMATION.
 HT Vs HT INITIALIZED AC
HT HT
INITIALIZED
AC
‡ AVERAGE
SENSITIVIT VALUES(+-STD)OF
Y
DIASTOLE 0.84(+- 0.82(+- SESITIVITY AND
)0.06 )0.04
SYSTOLE 0.82(+- 0.85(+- ACCURACY FOR
)0.05 )0.04
SPECIFICITY
THE VALIDATION
DIASTOLE 0.98(+- 0.99(+-
OF THE HT ANDHT
SYSTOLE
)0.03
0.98(+-
)0.008
0.99(+-
INITIALIZED
)0.03 )0.003
ACTIVE
ACCURACY
CONTOURS.
DIASTOLE 0.97(+- 0.98(+-
)0.03 )0.02
SYSTOLE 0.96(+- 0.98(+-
)0.04 )0.02
 EFFICIENCY
‡ THE EFFICIENCY OF THE COMBINED
HT ACTIVE CONTOURS
METHODOLOGY DEPENDS ON THE
PROCEDURES FOR GENERATING THE
IMAGE EDGE MAP.
 ADVANTAGES
‡ THE PROPOSED FULLY AUTOMATIC
METHODOLOGY ALLOWS THE
EXTRACTION OF STRAIGHT LINES AND
CIRCLES FROM LONGITUDINAL AND
TRANSVERSE SECTIONS.
‡ IN COMBINED METHODOLOGY THE
SENSITIVITY VALUES GENERALLY
INCREASED.
‡ THE SUGGESTED METHODOLOGY IS
FULLY AUTOMATIC.
 CONCLUSION
‡ THE METHODOLOGY DESCRIBED IN THIS
PAPER PROVIDES A SIMPLE FAST AND
ACCURATE WAY TO SEGMENT
ULTRASOUND IMAGES OF TRANSVERSE
SECTIONS OF THE CAROTID ARTERY.
‡ THE METHODOLOGY COMBINES ACTIVE
CONTOURS WITH THE HOUGH
TRANSFORM.
‡ HENCE PROVIDING FULLY AUTOMATIC
SEGMENTATION TOOL REDILY
APPLICABLE IN CLINICAL PRACTICE.
 REFRENCES
‡ J.A NOBLE AND
D.BOUKERROI,´ULTRASOUND IMAGE
SEGMENTATION:A SURVEY´.
‡ C.XU AND
J.L.PRINCE´SNAKES,SHAPES AND
GRADIENT VECTOR FLOW´.