3-D Image Reconstruction System of Blood Vessels Using a High-Speed X-ray Rotational Projection System

X射线血管造影通常用于检查血管，因为它们的高分辨率。为了提供对血管造影片中包含的信息的更定量的分析，已经开发了重建血管的3-D图像的方法。使用X射线血管造影的常规方法利用双平面测量系统或立体测量系统。然而，仅由少数投影提供的信息不足以重建血管的三维图像。此外，常规方法需要大量的用户交互。因此，要重建出精确的血管三维图像是非常困难的，我们开发了一个三维图像处理系统，利用高速X射线旋转投影系统重建出血管的三维图像。测量系统由锥形束X射线源和图像增强器（II）组成，可在短测量时间（2秒）内提供对应于60个血管结构视图的512 × 512投影图像。3-D图像处理方法包括由II产生的图像失真的校正、测量系统几何形状的估计以及从短扫描锥束投影的血管的3-D图像重建。三维重建图像可以在计算机图形学上可视化，并用于制造血管结构的三维模型。从结果的应用到患者血管的X射线血管造影，我们表明，所提出的图像处理系统是有效的定量诊断和治疗计划。

X-ray angiograms are usually used for inspection of the blood vessels because of their high resolution. To provide a more quantitative analysis of the information contained in angiograms, methods to reconstruct 3-D image of blood vessels have been developed. Conventional methods using X-ray angiograms utilize the biplane measurement system or the stereo measurement system. However, the information provided by only a few projections is insufficient for reconstructing 3-D image of blood vessels. Furthermore, conventional methods require extensive user interaction. Therefore, it is very difficult to reconstruct an accurate 3-D image of blood vessels.We develop a 3-D image processing system to reconstruct 3-D image of blood vessels using a high-speed X-ray rotational projection system. The measurement system, consisting of a cone beam X-ray source and an image intensifier (II), provides 512x512 projection images corresponding to 60 views of the blood vessel structure in a short measurement period (2 sec). The 3-D image processing method consists of correction of image distortion generated by II, estimation of the measurement system geometry, and 3-D image reconstruction of the blood vessels from short scan cone-beam projections. The 3-D reconstructed images can be visualized on a computer graphics, and are employed to fabricate a 3-D model of the blood vessel structure. From results of the application to the X-ray angiograms of patient blood vessels, we show that the proposed image processing system is effective for quantitative diagnosis and treatment planning.