Automatic vessel network features quantification using local vessel pattern operator

Abstract

Automatic measurement and quantification of blood vessels' features and detection of vessel landmarks are key steps in the computer-aided diagnosis and diseases monitoring. This work proposes a novel and robust method for detecting vessel landmarks, i.e. bifurcation and crossovers, and measurement of different features, i.e. vessel orientation and vessel diameter as well as bifurcation angle, from the detected vessel network using simple and efficient local vessel pattern operator. The proposed method is applied to the publicly available DRIVE, STARE and ARIA databases and compared with existing state-of-the-art approaches. It shows higher accuracy in detection of vessel landmark and estimation of vessel features. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.