Segmentation-Less, Automated, Vascular Vectorization
Fig 1
Overview of the SLAVV approach.
The purpose of SLAVV is to vectorize vascular objects from raw three dimensional images. The first step of the method is to linearly filter the input image to form “energy” and “size” images, which enhance vessel centerlines and estimate vessel sizes, respectively. Next, vertices along the blood vessels are extracted as local minima of the three-dimensional energy image. Vertices are then connected by edges, which follow minimal energy trajectories. Finally, a graph theoretic representation of the vascular network is generated from the vertices and edges.