Multiresolution, model-based segmentation of MR angiograms

During the last decade, the quality of MR angiograms has risen substantially and their clinical utility has been demonstrated progressively, This acceptance has created a need for tools with which to summarize and display the information available. We have used a model-based segmentation technique to extract vascular morphology and local flow parameters hom phase contrast MR angiograms. A multiresolution data structure is used as the basis of recursive decision-making to identify regions of blood now, The resulting data representation allows more efficient data handling in subsequent processing and visualization and is directly applicable to the creation of a connected graph model of vascular regions. We describe this now feature extraction algorithm and demonstrate the utility of the results.