Ultrasound Image Analysis of The Carotid Artery: Applications in ultrasound filtering, segmentation and texture analysis

Abstract

Stroke is one of the most important causes of death in the world and the leading cause of serious, long-term disability. There is an urgent need for better techniques to diagnose patients at risk of stroke based on the measurements of the intima media thickness (IMT) and the segmentation of the atherosclerotic carotid plaque. The objective of this work was to carry out a comparative evaluation of despeckle filtering on ultrasound images of the carotid artery, and develop a new segmentation system, for detecting the IMT of the common carotid artery and the borders of the athrerosclerotic carotid plaque in longitudinal ultrasound images of the carotid artery. The proposed methods were evaluated on a large number of ultrasound images and on multiple experts’ evaluation. Furthermore, it is expected that the propose methods will be incorporated into an integrated system enabling the texture analysis of the segmented plaque, providing an automated system for the early diagnosis diagnosis and the assessment of the risk of stroke.