Artifact reduction method for improved visualization of 3D coronary artery reconstructions from rotational angiography acquisitions

High quality and high resolution three dimensional reconstruction of the coronary arteries from clinically obtained rotational X-ray images during contrast injection has recently been attained through the use of advanced image processing techniques, including gating, optimal heart phase selection, motion compensation, and iterative reconstruction. While these strategies have produced excellent results despite severe angular under-sampling, the volumes that result from these techniques contain artifact/background signal features which impede both the qualitative as well as the quantitative analysis. This paper details a method for artifact removal from reconstructed 3D coronary angiograms that uses a priori image content information to maximize the background removal while minimizing influence on the reconstructed vessels. A variety of parameters are explored, and results indicate that this method can greatly improve visualization for use in the catheterization laboratory as well as reduce the impact of the visualization grey scale (window/level) on qualitative evaluation of the data.