A Review on Preprocessing and Segmentation Techniques in Carotid Artery Ultrasound Images

AbstractEpidemiological studies reveal that anatomical changes of carotid artery due to deposition of fatty lesions are effective signs of cardiovascular diseases. Ultrasound imaging modality provides the cross-sectional view of these arteries to identify the deposited plaques. Segmentation of common carotid artery (CCA) wall is important in determining the thickness of intima-media region of carotid artery. With the development of automated systems in medical field, a plethora of algorithms and strategies to analyze the carotid artery are proposed by various researchers over a period. This review focus on the techniques that have been developed for preprocessing and segmentation of various parts of the carotid artery from the longitudinal B-mode ultrasound images using both automated and semi-automated techniques. The review ends with a discussion about the techniques and future perspectives to make the computer-based carotid artery analysis more accurate and reliable.KeywordsCommon Carotid ArteryLongitudinal ultrasound imagesDespeckleSegmentation