Analysis of arterial sub-trees affected by Pulmonary Emboli

Although Pulmonary Embolism (PE) is one of the most common causes of unexpected death in the U.S., it may also be one of the most preventable. Images acquired from 16-slice Computed Tomography (CT) machines of contrast-injected patients provide sufficient resolution for the localization and analysis of emboli located in segmental and sub-segmental arteries. After a PE is found, it is difficult to assess the local characteristics of the affected arterial tree without automation. We propose a method to compute characteristics of the local arterial tree given the location of a PE. The computed information localizes the portion of the arterial tree that is affected by the embolism. Our method is based on the segmentation of the arteries and veins followed by a localized tree computation at the given site. The method determines bifurcation points and the remaining arterial tree. A preliminary segmentation method is also demonstrated to locally eliminate over-segmentation of the arterial tree. The final result can then be used assess the affected lung volume and arterial supply. Initial tests revealed a good ability to compute local tree characteristics of selected sites.