Image Segmentation and 3D Reconstruction of Intravascular Ultrasound Images

Intravascular ultrasound is a new imaging modality which provides real-time, highresolution, cross-sectional images of the arterial lumen and structures of the vessel wall. An insight into the spatial distribution of atherosclerosis can be obtained by three dimensional (3D) reconstruction of intravascular ultrasound. A method is described for image segmentation and subsequent 3D modelling of sequential ultrasound data. The segmentation procedure detects the contours of the arterial lumen and media interface; the voxel modelling method is then applied to create the arterial objects in a 3D space.