Method for fusing and non-simultaneously collecting coronary angiography images

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of medical image processing, in particular to a method for fusing and non-simultaneously collecting coronary angiography images. The invention provides a method for carrying out digital fusion on X-ray angiography images of a left crown and a right crown which are sequentially and respectively collected at the same or similar positions and angles, and the technical effect of simultaneously displaying the angiography images of the left crown and the right crown on the fused angiography images can be achieved through the method. And the availability of the coronary angiography imaging technology is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of medical image processing, and in particular to a method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images. Background Art

[0002] Coronary angiography, referred to as coronary angiography, refers to the technique of sending an angiography catheter retrogradely along the descending aorta to the root of the ascending aorta through the femoral artery of the lower limb or the radial artery of the upper limb, placing the catheter in the orifices of the left and right coronary arteries, and then injecting contrast agent, while turning on the angiography X-ray machine at a specific position and angle, and imaging the process of contrast agent filling and diffusion in the blood vessels. Medical staff can use coronary angiography technology to understand the overall picture of the left and right coronary artery trunks and branch vessels of the patient, and evaluate whether the blood vessels have stenotic lesions, the location, range and severity of the lesions, etc.

[0003] In actual application, the lumen of the anastomotic branch between the left and right coronary arteries of some patients will expand and the wall will thicken, forming collateral circulation, thereby compensating for the insufficient blood supply to local tissues after coronary artery obstruction. At the same time, under the condition of collateral circulation, the imaging obtained by coronary angiography can simultaneously show the following: Figure 1 The angiographic images of the left and right coronary arteries shown in the figure are helpful for better evaluating the condition and impact of obstructive lesions. However, in conventional angiographic examinations, due to the limitations of actual imaging, medical staff only use one angiographic catheter, so they can only inject contrast agents into the left and right coronary arteries one after another to obtain angiographic images of the left and right coronary arteries, respectively. There will inevitably be information differences between the angiographic images obtained one after another and the images obtained simultaneously, which is not conducive to practical applications such as lesion assessment and pathological judgment by medical staff. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present invention aims to solve the technical problem that in the actual use of the prior art, there is a certain information difference in the images obtained successively through the coronary angiography technology.

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images, the method comprising the following steps:

[0006] S1, acquiring a first image and a second image through coronary angiography, and determining a first acquisition angle value of the first image and a second acquisition angle value of the second image respectively, judging whether the first acquisition angle value and the second acquisition angle value meet a preset digital fusion condition, if so, executing step S2; if not, not performing fusion processing on the first image and the second image;

[0007] S2, performing acquisition angle difference correction on the first image and the second image respectively according to a coordinate system;

[0008] S3, using a preset image segmentation method to perform image segmentation on the first image and the second image according to the area of ​​the contrast blood vessels, to obtain a first contrast filling image and a second contrast filling image respectively, and at the same time, obtaining a heartbeat image frame in heartbeat motion in the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image, and performing time matching on the first image and the second image respectively according to the heartbeat image frame;

[0009] S4. According to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image.

[0010] Furthermore, in step S1, the main angle of the localizer when the first image is acquired during coronary angiography is defined as PPA1, the secondary angle of the localizer is defined as PSA1, the main angle of the localizer when the second image is acquired during coronary angiography is defined as PPA2, the secondary angle of the localizer is defined as PSA2, and the preset digital fusion condition is:

[0011] |PPA1-PPA2|<2°&|PSA1-PSA2|<2°.

[0012] Furthermore, in step S2, the step of performing acquisition angle difference correction on the first image and the second image according to the coordinate system is specifically:

[0013] The center of the first image is taken as the origin of the coordinate system, the horizontal and vertical directions of the coordinate system correspond to the directions of PPA1 and PSA1 respectively, and the center coordinates of the second image are transferred as follows:

[0014] (DSP*sin(PPA1-PPA2),DSP*sin(PSA1-PSA2));

[0015] Here, DSP represents a preset amplification value.

[0016] Furthermore, in step S3, the step of acquiring a heartbeat image frame in heartbeat motion in the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image is specifically:

[0017] In the first contrast filling image, the second-order central moment of the vascular spatial distribution relative to the vascular spatial center of gravity in each image frame is calculated according to the frame sequence, and the image frame with the largest second-order central moment is used as the end-diastolic image, and the image frame with the smallest second-order central moment is used as the end-systolic image, and the end-diastolic image and the end-systolic image are marked as the cardiac image frames.

[0018] Furthermore, in step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, specifically, the step of:

[0019] The image frames of the first image and the second image at corresponding times after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are fused by adding the pixel values ​​and taking the average value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first image and the second image retain the original pixel values.

[0020] Furthermore, in step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, specifically, the step of:

[0021] The first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are processed according to a preset image enhancement method and a preset background silhouette method respectively to obtain a first silhouette image and a second silhouette image, and the image frames of the first silhouette image and the second silhouette image at corresponding times are fused by adding pixel values ​​and taking an average value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first silhouette image and the second silhouette image retain the original pixel values.

[0022] Furthermore, the preset image enhancement method is:

[0023] In the image to be processed, a lung image pixel threshold is determined according to a pixel statistical distribution histogram and regional classification, and all pixel values ​​in the image to be processed that are greater than the lung image pixel threshold are set equal to the lung image pixel threshold.

[0024] Furthermore, the preset background silhouette method is:

[0025] The pixel values ​​of all the image frames in the image sequence of the image to be processed are added and then averaged to obtain a background image. Thereafter, the background image is subtracted from all the image frames to obtain a silhouette image.

[0026] Furthermore, in step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, specifically, the step of:

[0027] The first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image in the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused in a manner of taking the maximum pixel value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image retain the original pixel values.

[0028] The beneficial technical effect achieved by the present invention is that a method is proposed to digitally fuse the X-ray angiography images of the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery that are successively acquired at the same or similar position and angle. This method can achieve the technical effect of simultaneously displaying the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery angiography images on the fused angiography image, thereby improving the usability of coronary angiography imaging technology. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the angiographic images of the left and right coronary arteries obtained by coronary angiography;

[0030] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the steps of the method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 3 is an image schematic diagram of imaging the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery twice at the same position and angle provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an image of a contrast filling state provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a contrast filling image obtained by a preset image segmentation method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of calculating the blood vessel area provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of changes in the calculation of the second-order center distance of blood vessel distribution provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a coronary angiography fusion image obtained by the fusion method of Example 1 provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a coronary angiography fusion image obtained by the fusion method of Example 2 provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of a coronary angiography fusion image obtained by the fusion method of Example 3 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0040] Please refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 1 is a schematic flow chart of the steps of a method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images provided by an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising the following steps:

[0041] S1. Acquire a first image and a second image through coronary angiography, and respectively determine a first acquisition angle value of the first image and a second acquisition angle value of the second image, and judge whether the first acquisition angle value and the second acquisition angle value meet a preset digital fusion condition. If so, execute step S2; if not, do not perform fusion processing on the first image and the second image.

[0042] Furthermore, in step S1, the positioner primary angle of the first image during coronary angiography acquisition is defined as PPA1 (Positioner Primary Angle), the positioner secondary angle is defined as PSA1 (Positioner Secondary Angle), the positioner primary angle of the second image during coronary angiography acquisition is defined as PPA2, the positioner secondary angle is defined as PSA2, and the preset digital fusion condition is:

[0043] |PPA1-PPA2|<2°&|PSA1-PSA2|<2°.

[0044] In the embodiment of the present invention, the above angle value can be obtained by reading the Dicom file information of the coronary angiography image, such as Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of an image of angiography of the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery twice at the same position and angle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0045] S2. Correct the acquisition angle difference of the first image and the second image respectively according to a coordinate system.

[0046] Furthermore, in step S2, the step of performing acquisition angle difference correction on the first image and the second image according to the coordinate system is specifically:

[0047] The center of the first image is taken as the origin of the coordinate system, the horizontal and vertical directions of the coordinate system correspond to the directions of PPA1 and PSA1 respectively, and the center coordinates of the second image are transferred as follows:

[0048] (DSP*sin(PPA1-PPA2),DSP*sin(PSA1-PSA2));

[0049] Wherein, DSP represents a preset magnification value, and in the embodiment of the present invention, is used to represent the necessary interpolation in the image fusion process.

[0050] S3. Use a preset image segmentation method to segment the first image and the second image according to the area of ​​the contrast blood vessels to obtain a first contrast filling image and a second contrast filling image, respectively. At the same time, obtain a heartbeat image frame in the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image during heartbeat motion, and perform time matching on the first image and the second image according to the heartbeat image frame.

[0051] Specifically, each angiography sequence includes multiple frames of images, which dynamically reflect the whole process of contrast agent from injection into the artery to filling all blood vessels and then diffusing and disappearing, accompanied by heartbeat movement. Therefore, the time matching of the angiography images can be achieved by determining the time of heartbeat movement. In the embodiment of the present invention, the angiography blood vessels are first segmented from each frame of the angiography sequence, and the 10-15 frames with the largest angiography blood vessel area are calculated as the image representing the filling state of the angiography. Figure 4 Image shown.

[0052] The preset image segmentation method may be an existing segmentation method based on deep learning or a segmentation algorithm based on traditional calculation rules. The contrast filling image obtained by the preset image segmentation method is as follows: Figure 5 The schematic diagram of the blood vessel area is shown in Figure 6 As shown, Figure 6 In the figure, the horizontal axis is the frame number and the vertical axis is the blood vessel area.

[0053] Furthermore, in step S3, the step of acquiring a heartbeat image frame in heartbeat motion in the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image is specifically:

[0054] In the first contrast filling image, the second-order central moment of the vascular space distribution relative to the vascular space gravity center in each image frame is calculated according to the frame sequence, and the image frame with the largest second-order central moment is used as the end-diastolic image, and the image frame with the smallest second-order central moment is used as the end-systolic image. The end-diastolic image and the end-systolic image are marked as the heartbeat image frames, and the schematic diagram of the change of the second-order central distance of the vascular distribution is calculated as shown in Figure 7 As shown, Figure 7 In the figure, the horizontal axis is the frame number and the vertical axis is the second-order center distance value.

[0055] S4. According to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image.

[0056] For different application modes in existing medical scenarios, the embodiment of the present invention provides three fusion methods for processing the first image and the second image:

[0057] Embodiment 1

[0058] Furthermore, in step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, specifically, the step of:

[0059] The image frames of the first image and the second image at corresponding times after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are fused by adding the pixel values ​​and taking the average value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first image and the second image retain the original pixel values.

[0060] The coronary angiography fusion image obtained by the fusion method of Example 1 is as follows: Figure 8 shown.

[0061] Embodiment 2

[0062] Furthermore, in step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, specifically, the step of:

[0063] The first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are processed according to a preset image enhancement method and a preset background silhouette method respectively to obtain a first silhouette image and a second silhouette image, and the image frames of the first silhouette image and the second silhouette image at corresponding times are fused by adding pixel values ​​and taking an average value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first silhouette image and the second silhouette image retain the original pixel values.

[0064] Furthermore, the preset image enhancement method is:

[0065] In the image to be processed, the lung image pixel threshold is determined according to the pixel statistical distribution histogram and regional classification, and all pixel values ​​in the image to be processed that are greater than the lung image pixel threshold are set equal to the lung image pixel threshold. In the actual implementation process, regional classification is mainly carried out for soft tissue, angiographic blood vessels and bone regions.

[0066] Furthermore, the preset background silhouette method is:

[0067] The pixel values ​​of all the image frames in the image sequence of the image to be processed are added and then averaged to obtain a background image. Thereafter, the background image is subtracted from all the image frames to obtain a silhouette image.

[0068] The coronary angiography fusion image obtained by the fusion method of Example 2 is as follows: Fig. 9 shown.

[0069] Embodiment 3

[0070] Furthermore, in step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, specifically, the step of:

[0071] The first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image in the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused in a manner of taking the maximum pixel value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image retain the original pixel values.

[0072] The coronary angiography fusion image obtained by the fusion method of Example 3 is as follows: Fig.10 shown.

[0073] The beneficial technical effect achieved by the present invention is that a method is proposed to digitally fuse the X-ray angiography images of the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery that are successively acquired at the same or similar position and angle. This method can achieve the technical effect of simultaneously displaying the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery angiography images on the fused angiography image, thereby improving the usability of coronary angiography imaging technology.

[0074] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiments can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program, and the program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when the program is executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. The storage medium can be a disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM) or a random access memory (RAM).

[0075] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0076] Through the description of the above implementation methods, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and of course by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk), and includes a number of instructions for enabling a terminal (which can be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, an air conditioner, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present invention.

[0077] The embodiments of the present invention are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. What is disclosed is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation manner. The above-mentioned specific implementation manner is only illustrative rather than restrictive. Under the enlightenment of the present invention, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms and equivalent changes without departing from the scope of protection of the purpose of the present invention and the claims, all of which are within the protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images, characterized in that: The method comprises the following steps: S1, acquiring a first image and a second image through coronary angiography, and determining a first acquisition angle value of the first image and a second acquisition angle value of the second image respectively, judging whether the first acquisition angle value and the second acquisition angle value meet a preset digital fusion condition, if so, executing step S2; if not, not performing fusion processing on the first image and the second image; S2, performing acquisition angle difference correction on the first image and the second image respectively according to a coordinate system; S3, using a preset image segmentation method to perform image segmentation on the first image and the second image according to the area of ​​the contrast blood vessels, to obtain a first contrast filling image and a second contrast filling image respectively, and at the same time, obtaining a heartbeat image frame in heartbeat motion in the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image, and performing time matching on the first image and the second image respectively according to the heartbeat image frame; S4. According to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image.

2. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: In step S1, the primary angle of the localizer of the first image during coronary angiography acquisition is defined as PPA1, the secondary angle of the localizer is defined as PSA1, the primary angle of the localizer of the second image during coronary angiography acquisition is defined as PPA2, the secondary angle of the localizer is defined as PSA2, and the preset digital fusion condition is: |PPA1-PPA2|<2°&|PSA1-PSA2|<2°.

3. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: In step S2, the steps of respectively performing acquisition angle difference correction on the first image and the second image according to the coordinate system are specifically as follows: The center of the first image is taken as the origin of the coordinate system, the horizontal and vertical directions of the coordinate system correspond to the directions of PPA1 and PSA1 respectively, and the center coordinates of the second image are transferred as follows: (DSP*sin(PPA1-PPA2),DSP*sin(PSA1-PSA2)); Here, DSP represents a preset amplification value.

4. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: In step S3, the step of acquiring a heartbeat image frame in heartbeat motion in the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image is specifically: In the first contrast filling image, the second-order central moment of the vascular spatial distribution relative to the vascular spatial center of gravity in each image frame is calculated according to the frame sequence, and the image frame with the largest second-order central moment is used as the end-diastolic image, and the image frame with the smallest second-order central moment is used as the end-systolic image, and the end-diastolic image and the end-systolic image are marked as the cardiac image frames.

5. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, which is specifically: The image frames of the first image and the second image at corresponding times after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are fused by adding the pixel values ​​and taking the average value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first image and the second image retain the original pixel values.

6. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, which is specifically: The first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are processed according to a preset image enhancement method and a preset background silhouette method respectively to obtain a first silhouette image and a second silhouette image, and the image frames of the first silhouette image and the second silhouette image at corresponding times are fused by adding pixel values ​​and taking an average value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first silhouette image and the second silhouette image retain the original pixel values.

7. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that: The preset image enhancement method is: In the image to be processed, a lung image pixel threshold is determined according to a pixel statistical distribution histogram and regional classification, and all pixel values ​​in the image to be processed that are greater than the lung image pixel threshold are set equal to the lung image pixel threshold.

8. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that: The preset background silhouette method is: The pixel values ​​of all the image frames in the image sequence of the image to be processed are added and then averaged to obtain a background image. Thereafter, the background image is subtracted from all the image frames to obtain a silhouette image.

9. The method for fusing non-simultaneously acquired coronary angiography images as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that: In step S4, according to a preset image fusion method, the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused to obtain a coronary angiography fusion image, which is specifically: The first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image in the first image and the second image after the acquisition angle difference correction and the time matching are completed are fused in a manner of taking the maximum pixel value to obtain the coronary angiography fusion image, wherein the pixel-free areas corresponding to the first contrast filling image and the second contrast filling image retain the original pixel values.

Images