A Method for Automatic Calculation of the Diameter of a Pulsating Blood Vessel on Ultrasound Images in Video Stream Mode

Three approaches to automatic measurement of the diameter of pulsating blood vessels on ultrasound images in the video stream mode are considered. The use of such approaches for continuous monitoring of vascular wall movements during the cardiac cycle provides for both early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and identification of risk factors for these diseases (in particular, vascular atherosclerosis). The operation of the proposed algorithms was studied using sets of ultrasound images of real patients' blood vessels. Experimental results are presented demonstrating that these algorithms can be used for solving clinical problems, including for further building of models of vessel pulsation.