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Ferran Poveda, Debora Gil, & Enric Marti. (2012). "Multi-resolution DT-MRI cardiac tractography " In Statistical Atlases And Computational Models Of The Heart: Imaging and Modelling Challenges (Vol. 7746, pp. 270–277). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Even using objective measures from DT-MRI no consensus about myocardial architecture has been achieved so far. Streamlining provides good reconstructions at low level of detail, but falls short to give global abstract interpretations. In this paper, we present a multi-resolution methodology that is able to produce simplified representations of cardiac architecture. Our approach produces a reduced set of tracts that are representative of the main geometric features of myocardial anatomical structure. Experiments show that fiber geometry is preserved along reductions, which validates the simplified model for interpretation of cardiac architecture.
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Debora Gil, Agnes Borras, Ruth Aris, Mariano Vazquez, Pierre Lafortune, & Guillame Houzeaux. (2012). "What a difference in biomechanics cardiac fiber makes " In Statistical Atlases And Computational Models Of The Heart: Imaging and Modelling Challenges (Vol. 7746, pp. 253–260). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Computational simulations of the heart are a powerful tool for a comprehensive understanding of cardiac function and its intrinsic relationship with its muscular architecture. Cardiac biomechanical models require a vector field representing the orientation of cardiac fibers. A wrong orientation of the fibers can lead to a
non-realistic simulation of the heart functionality. In this paper we explore the impact of the fiber information on the simulated biomechanics of cardiac muscular anatomy. We have used the John Hopkins database to perform a biomechanical simulation using both a synthetic benchmark fiber distribution and the data obtained experimentally from DTI. Results illustrate how differences in fiber orientation affect heart deformation along cardiac cycle.
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Patricia Marquez, Debora Gil, & Aura Hernandez-Sabate. (2012). "A Complete Confidence Framework for Optical Flow " In Rita Cucchiara V. M. Andrea Fusiello (Ed.), 12th European Conference on Computer Vision – Workshops and Demonstrations (Vol. 7584, pp. 124–133). Florence, Italy, October 7-13, 2012: Springer-Verlag.
Abstract: Medial representations are powerful tools for describing and parameterizing the volumetric shape of anatomical structures. Existing methods show excellent results when applied to 2D objects, but their quality drops across dimensions. This paper contributes to the computation of medial manifolds in two aspects. First, we provide a standard scheme for the computation of medial manifolds that avoid degenerated medial axis segments; second, we introduce an energy based method which performs independently of the dimension. We evaluate quantitatively the performance of our method with respect to existing approaches, by applying them to synthetic shapes of known medial geometry. Finally, we show results on shape representation of multiple abdominal organs, exploring the use of medial manifolds for the representation of multi-organ relations.
Keywords: Optical flow, confidence measures, sparsification plots, error prediction plots
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Sergio Vera, Miguel Angel Gonzalez Ballester, & Debora Gil. (2012). "Optimal Medial Surface Generation for Anatomical Volume Representations " In MichaelW. David and Vannier H. and H. Yoshida (Ed.), Abdominal Imaging. Computational and Clinical Applications (Vol. 7601, pp. 265–273). Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Medial representations are a widely used technique in abdominal organ shape representation and parametrization. Those methods require good medial manifolds as a starting point. Any medial
surface used to parametrize a volume should be simple enough to allow an easy manipulation and complete enough to allow an accurate reconstruction of the volume. Obtaining good quality medial
surfaces is still a problem with current iterative thinning methods. This forces the usage of generic, pre-calculated medial templates that are adapted to the final shape at the cost of a drop in volume reconstruction.
This paper describes an operator for generation of medial structures that generates clean and complete manifolds well suited for their further use in medial representations of abdominal organ volumes. While being simpler than thinning surfaces, experiments show its high performance in volume reconstruction and preservation of medial surface main branching topology.
Keywords: Medial surface representation; volume reconstruction
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Carles Sanchez, F. Javier Sanchez, Antoni Rosell, & Debora Gil. (2012). "An illumination model of the trachea appearance in videobronchoscopy images " In Image Analysis and Recognition (Vol. 7325, pp. 313–320). Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Videobronchoscopy is a medical imaging technique that allows interactive navigation inside the respiratory pathways. This imaging modality provides realistic images and allows non-invasive minimal intervention procedures. Tracheal procedures are routinary interventions that require assessment of the percentage of obstructed pathway for injury (stenosis) detection. Visual assessment in videobronchoscopic sequences requires high expertise of trachea anatomy and is prone to human error.
This paper introduces an automatic method for the estimation of steneosed trachea percentage reduction in videobronchoscopic images. We look for tracheal rings , whose deformation determines the degree of obstruction. For ring extraction , we present a ring detector based on an illumination and appearance model. This model allows us to parametrise the ring detection. Finally, we can infer optimal estimation parameters for any video resolution.
Keywords: Bronchoscopy, tracheal ring, stenosis assesment, trachea appearance model, segmentation
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Patricia Marquez, Debora Gil, & Aura Hernandez-Sabate. (2012). "Error Analysis for Lucas-Kanade Based Schemes " In 9th International Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition (Vol. 7324, pp. 184–191). Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Optical flow is a valuable tool for motion analysis in medical imaging sequences. A reliable application requires determining the accuracy of the computed optical flow. This is a main challenge given the absence of ground truth in medical sequences. This paper presents an error analysis of Lucas-Kanade schemes in terms of intrinsic design errors and numerical stability of the algorithm. Our analysis provides a confidence measure that is naturally correlated to the accuracy of the flow field. Our experiments show the higher predictive value of our confidence measure compared to existing measures.
Keywords: Optical flow, Confidence measure, Lucas-Kanade, Cardiac Magnetic Resonance
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Sergio Vera, Debora Gil, Agnes Borras, F. Javier Sanchez, Frederic Perez, Marius G. Linguraru, et al. (2012). "Computation and Evaluation of Medial Surfaces for Shape Representation of Abdominal Organs " In H. Yoshida et al (Ed.), Workshop on Computational and Clinical Applications in Abdominal Imaging (Vol. 7029, 223–230). Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin: Springer Link.
Abstract: Medial representations are powerful tools for describing and parameterizing the volumetric shape of anatomical structures. Existing methods show excellent results when applied to 2D
objects, but their quality drops across dimensions. This paper contributes to the computation of medial manifolds in two aspects. First, we provide a standard scheme for the computation of medial
manifolds that avoid degenerated medial axis segments; second, we introduce an energy based method which performs independently of the dimension. We evaluate quantitatively the performance of our
method with respect to existing approaches, by applying them to synthetic shapes of known medial geometry. Finally, we show results on shape representation of multiple abdominal organs,
exploring the use of medial manifolds for the representation of multi-organ relations.
Keywords: medial manifolds, abdomen.
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Debora Gil, Aura Hernandez-Sabate, Mireia Burnat, Steven Jansen, & Jordi Martinez-Vilalta. (2009). "Structure-Preserving Smoothing of Biomedical Images " In 13th International Conference on Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns (Vol. 5702, pp. 427–434). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Abstract: Smoothing of biomedical images should preserve gray-level transitions between adjacent tissues, while restoring contours consistent with anatomical structures. Anisotropic diffusion operators are based on image appearance discontinuities (either local or contextual) and might fail at weak inter-tissue transitions. Meanwhile, the output of block-wise and morphological operations is prone to present a block structure due to the shape and size of the considered pixel neighborhood. In this contribution, we use differential geometry concepts to define a diffusion operator that restricts to image consistent level-sets. In this manner, the final state is a non-uniform intensity image presenting homogeneous inter-tissue transitions along anatomical structures, while smoothing intra-structure texture. Experiments on different types of medical images (magnetic resonance, computerized tomography) illustrate its benefit on a further process (such as segmentation) of images.
Keywords: non-linear smoothing; differential geometry; anatomical structures segmentation; cardiac magnetic resonance; computerized tomography.
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Debora Gil, Oriol Rodriguez-Leor, Petia Radeva, & Aura Hernandez-Sabate. (2007). "Assessing Artery Motion Compensation in IVUS " In Computer Analysis Of Images And Patterns (Vol. 4673, pp. 213–220). Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Heidelberg: Springerlink.
Abstract: Cardiac dynamics suppression is a main issue for visual improvement and computation of tissue mechanical properties in IntraVascular UltraSound (IVUS). Although in recent times several motion compensation techniques have arisen, there is a lack of objective evaluation of motion reduction in in vivo pullbacks. We consider that the assessment protocol deserves special attention for the sake of a clinical applicability as reliable as possible. Our work focuses on defining a quality measure and a validation protocol assessing IVUS motion compensation. On the grounds of continuum mechanics laws we introduce a novel score measuring motion reduction in in vivo sequences. Synthetic experiments validate the proposed score as measure of motion parameters accuracy; while results in in vivo pullbacks show its reliability in clinical cases.
Keywords: validation standards; quality measures; IVUS motion compensation; conservation laws; Fourier development
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Joel Barajas, Jaume Garcia, Karla Lizbeth Caballero, Francesc Carreras, Sandra Pujades, & Petia Radeva. (2006). "Correction of Misalignment Artifacts Among 2-D Cardiac MR Images in 3-D Space " In 1st International Wokshop on Computer Vision for Intravascular and Intracardiac Imaging (CVII’06) (Vol. 3217, pp. 114–121). Copenhagen (Denmark).
Abstract: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance images offer the opportunity to study the heart in detail. One of the main issues in its modelling is to create an accurate 3-D reconstruction of the left ventricle from 2-D views. A first step to achieve this goal is the correct registration among the different image planes due to patient movements. In this article, we present an accurate method to correct displacement artifacts using the Normalized Mutual Information. Here, the image views are treated as planes in order to diminish the approximation error caused by the association of a certain thickness, and moved simultaneously to avoid any kind of bias in the alignment process. This method has been validated using real and syntectic plane displacements, yielding promising results.
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