Ali K. Hamou and Mahmoud R. El-Sakka, "Blood Flow Generation in B-Mode Ultrasound Images of the Carotid Artery", IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, ICIP'2004, pp. 2945 - 2948, October 2004, Suntec City, Singapore.
Abstract
This paper presents a new blood flow detection scheme, where a novel painting segmentation algorithm is utilized in order to achieve the accurate area of lumens within carotid artery B-mode ultrasound images. The scheme allows for user-defined thresholding providing tolerance levels within the contour detection process in order to overcome crippling interference noise and degrading artifacts in ultrasound images. Since plaque buildup obstructs the flow of blood in the carotid artery, this scheme can identify these severe plaque-thickened inflamed regions, through detecting high and low levels of blood flow.