Abstract

Ultrasound is often used for monitoring of carotid disease. In current clinical practice, degree of stenosis is an important predictor to assess stroke risk. Lumen narrowing from plaque is currently measured via techniques such as computed tomographic scan, magnetic resonance angiogram or conventional angiogram. Duplex ultrasound measures degree of stenosis based on peak systolic velocities and other parameters and only provides a wide range of level of stenosis. Pursuing lumen size measurement in ultrasound via manual quantification of lumen diameter is tedious. Furthermore, non-uniformity in plaque growth makes it more challenging and time-consuming. There has been an increasing interest in the automatic and robust delineation of the lumen boundaries of the carotids and to measure the lumen diameter via ultrasound given its non-invasive and safe approach.