Characterization of 3D Bifurcations in Micro-scan and MRA-TOF Images of Cerebral Vasculature for Prediction of Intra-Cranial Aneurysms

Anass Nouri (1) , Florent Autrusseau (2, 3) , Romain Bourcier (4, 5) , Alban Gaignard (4) , Vincent L'Allinec (4) , Céline Menguy (4) , Joëlle Véziers (2) , Hubert Desal (4) , Gervaise Loirand (4) , Richard Redon (4)

1 LASTID
2 RMeS - Regenerative Medicine and Skeleton
3 LTeN - Laboratoire de Thermique et d’Energie de Nantes
4 ITX - ITX - unité de recherche de l'institut du thorax
5 CHU Nantes - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes

An aneurysm is a vascular disorder where ballooning may form in a weakened section of the wall in the blood vessel. The swelling of the aneurysm may lead to its rupture. Intra-cranial aneurysms are the ones presenting the higher risks. If ruptured, the aneurysm may induce a subarachnoid haemorrhage which could lead to premature death or permanent disability. In this study, we are interested in locating and characterizing the bifurcations of the cerebral vascular tree. We use a 3D skeletonization combined with a graph-based approach to detect the bifurcations. In this work, we thus propose a full geometric characterisation of the bifurcations and related arteries. Aside from any genetic predisposition and environmental risk factors, the geometry of the brain vasculature may influence the chance of aneurysm formation. Among the main achievements, in this paper, we propose accurate, predictive 3D measurements of the bifurcations and we furthermore estimate the risk of occurrence of an aneurysm on a given bifurcation.

Mots clés: 3D skeleton; MRA-TOF; Geometry; Aneurysm; Bifurcation characterization; Micro-CT; 3D Graph

Domaines: Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Anass Nouri, Florent Autrusseau, Romain Bourcier, Alban Gaignard, Vincent L'Allinec, et al.. Characterization of 3D Bifurcations in Micro-scan and MRA-TOF Images of Cerebral Vasculature for Prediction of Intra-Cranial Aneurysms. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, 2020, 84C, ⟨10.1016/j.compmedimag.2020.101751⟩. ⟨hal-02888926⟩