Computationally efficient algorithm for the estimation of the intimamedia thickness of the common carotid artery

In this paper we propose a new computationally efficient algorithm for automatic estimation of intima and media boundary of common carotid artery (CCA) based on ultrasound (USG) image analysis. The intima-media thickness (IMT), equal to distance between intima and media boundary, is typically used to predict cardiovascular events like myocardial infarction and stroke. At present, it is measured by a physician making manual segmentation of an USG image. Automatic estimation of IMT, freeing physicians from this tedious work, should speed the process and assure higher reproducibility. The proposed algorithm involves USG image denoising by means of a nonlinear diffusion filter working in semi-explicit scheme and iterative image segmentation by a modified active contour method with suitable energy function.