Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Medical imaging is an important tool that allows physicians to look inside human bodies. It may detect critical illnesses at their most curable stage and, in many cases, when they are least costly to treat. Currently, various image modalities (e.g. ultrasound, Computer Tomography CT, Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI, etc) are heavily used for clinical purposes. Ultrasound imaging provides an attractive tool for carotid artery examination. It allows clinicians to detect possible artery stenosis and to assess the risk of developing stokes. The main drawback of ultrasound imaging is the poor quality of the produced images. It takes a considerable effort from clinicians to extract significant information about carotid artery contours, including the possible existence of plaque layers that may exist. This task requires a highly skilled clinician. Furthermore, manual extraction of carotid artery contours generates a result that is not reproducible. The main objective of this research is to develop a Computer Aided Diagnostic (CAD) system to analyze carotid artery ultrasound images in an attempt to detect carotid artery stenosis and to assess the risk of developing strokes. The ultimate goal is to promote the use of the proposed system in clinical trials.