Method for measuring the dimensions of blood vessels

Abstract

A method for measuring dimensions of a blood vessel (100) of a subject, the blood vessel being a fluid-conducting vessel, comprising the steps of receiving image data comprising a three-dimensional medical image including the blood vessel; obtaining from the image data an image patch (130) that is a two-dimensional image including a cross-section of the blood vessel (100); generating from the image patch (130) a set of light rays (R1 to RX), each light ray (R1 to RX) being a straight line that touches a center point (140) of an outer footprint (150) of the blood vessel (100) at one end and extends beyond the outer footprint (150) of the blood vessel (100) at its other end, each light ray (R1 to RX) having a different direction; and for each light ray (R1 to RX), calculating an image pattern along the light ray as a function of distance from the center point (140). determining an image intensity profile of the set of rays (R1 to RX); determining one or more of a ray wall thickness (RXwt), a ray lumen radius (RXlr), a ray outer radius (RXor) from the image intensity profile along each ray (R1 to RX); and determining dimensional measurements of the blood vessel (100), the dimensional measurements including one or more of a vessel wall thickness (Vwt) determined from a median of the ray wall thicknesses (RXwt) in the set of rays (R1 to RX), a vessel lumen radius (Vlr) determined from a median of the ray lumen radii (RXlr) in the set of rays (R1 to RX), and a vessel outer radius (Vor) determined from a median of the ray outer radii (RXor) in the set of rays (R1 to RX).

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