Fast-marching contours for the segmentation of vessel lumen in CTA cross-sections.

This work deals with the segmentation of the arterial lumen in cross-sections of CT angiography (CTA) images, by means of active contours. Within the context of the fast-marching method, a new speed-control function is proposed in order to cope with strongly variable contrasts along the perimeter of the contour. This function was devised to guarantee the existence of a time T at which the fast-marching front fits the actual boundary of the vessel lumen, despite calcifications and other neighboring structures.