| 摘要 |
An apparatus ( 100 ) for defining the lumen-intima interface ( 11 ) and media-adventitia interface ( 12 ) of a blood vessel ( 1 ), for example the carotid artery, includes means ( 40 ) for acquisition of a two-dimensional representation ( 10 ), for example a B-mode representation generated by an ultrasonographic machine ( 50 ), of a cross section of the vessel ( 1 ). The cross section of the vessel ( 1 ) can be longitudinal, obtained through sonographic linear probe ( 40 ) by means of not invasive analysis, or alternatively, a cross sectional view obtained by means of a sonographic intravascular probe. The two-dimensional representation ( 10 ) is given by means of a analog or digital video output transmitted to a calculator ( 60 ) for being computed by a specific algorithm. In particular, the calculator ( 60 ) has peripheral devices, such as a keyboard ( 61 ) and a mouse ( 62 ), which allow defining, in a manual or semi-automatic way, in a two-dimensional representation ( 10 ), a region of interest (ROI) ( 20 ) including the interface ( 11 ) lumen-intima and the interface ( 12 ) media-adventitia of the vessel ( 1 ). In the ROI ( 20 ), N search paths ( 15 ) are then defined from the inside to the outside of the vessel ( 1 ). Along each search path ( 15 )i the values f(n,m) are taken of the two-dimensional representation, which are then subject to filtering, which allows retrieving discontinuity points of the two-dimensional representation ( 10 ) and then localizing the lumen-intima ( 11 ) and media-adventitia ( 12 ) interfaces through further logical operations.
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