THREE DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF CORONARY ARTERIES: COMPUTERIZED IMAGE PROCESSING OF BIPLANE CORONARY ARTERIOGRAMS.

In order to develop the computerized image processing system for the three dimensional reconstruction of coronary arterial trees from simultaneous biplane coronary arteriograms-(CAG), new algorithms of the corresponding problem of coronary artery have been developed. Use of epipolar line gave the candidates for corresponding points of each branching point on an image. Epipolar line was defined as a projection of a ray (from a camera center to a point on an image) onto another image plane. After obtaining the candidates for corresponding points, false corresponding points were discriminated by use of the knowledge of three dimensional configuration of the heart. The experimental results suggest that these algorithms are very effective in searching the corresponding point from complicated images as coronary arteriograms. Three dimensional displays of the coronary arterial tree on a convex hull are useful to understand the perfusion areas of the branches or the configuration of the left ventricle.