HYPERCUBE WORKSTATION FOR 3D CORONARY ARTERIOGRAPHY

THE OBJECTIVE IS TO BUILD A PROTOTYPE LOW-COST, HIGH-PERFORMANCE 3-D ARTERIOGRAPHIC WORKSTATION. THE WORKSTATION WILL BE DESIGNED TO PRODUCE 3-D IMAGES FROM THE ARTERIAL TREE (ESPECIALLY CORONARY ARTERIES) AND TO ASSIST IN THE QUANTIFICATION OF ATHEROSCLEROTIC LESIONS. NEW DESKTOP SUPERCOMPUTING TECHNOLOGY WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH EXISTING WORKSTATIONS TO PRODUCE THE DESIRED IMAGING CAPABILITIES IN A MEANINGFUL (ACCEPTABLE) TIME FRAME FOR THECLINICIAN. CORONARY ARTERIOGRAPHY IS THE STANDARD TECHNIQUE FOR EVALUATING THE STATE OF CORONARY ARTERIES. IT IS USED TO ASSESS THE NEED FOR AND/OR THE SUCCESS OF BYPASS SURGERY AND CORONARY ANGIOPLASTY. TODAY, VISUAL ESTIMATION, WHICH IS KNOWN TO BE HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE, IS STILL THE ROUTINE QUANTITATION METHOD IN THE CLINICAL SETTING. THIS RESEARCH SEEKS TO PROVIDE THE CLINICIAN WITH A TOOL THAT OFFERS ACCURATE DATA FOR ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE VESSEL DIMENSIONS. THE APPROACH USED TO ACHIEVE THE DESIGN FOR THEPROTOTYPE WORKSTATION WILL BE TO UTILIZE EXISTING CLINICALLYRELEVANT ALGORITHMS FOR ARTERIOGRAPHY. THESE ALGORITHMS WILL BE FURTHER ENHANCED AND ATTEMPTS MADE TO VALIDATE THE ENHANCED ALGORITHMS CLINICALLY. THE PLANS FOR PORTING THE ALGORITHMS TO A HYPERCUBE WILL BE DEVELOPED, AND MAPPING ISSUES RELEVANT TO THE HYPERCUBE TOPOLOGY WILL BE ADDRESSED.