| We have established novel plaque imaging and analysis
system “Plaque Map” that provided colored two-dimensional
(2D) or three-dimensional (3D) reconstructed image based
on CT number of coronary and carotid vessel and plaque
in MDCT (or multislice CT, MSCT) images. The system enabled
us to detect the plaque characterization of coronary artery
as intravascular ultrasonography. If we use Plaque Map,
we can detect coronary plaque on only 8-slice CT images!
(Fig. 1) ROI and profile curve method have been standard
for CT images, however, these methods could not fit
the plaque or vessel (Fig.2). Plaque Map is converted
image based on CT number from CT images. We presented
March 2004 at ACC annual Meeting in New Orleans and
the paper was published in Circulation Journal (Komatsu
S, Hirayama A, et al. Detection of Coronary Plaque by
Computed Tomography with the Novel Plaque Analysis System
“Plaque Map” and Comparison with Intravascular Ultrasound
and Angioscopy. Circ J 2005, 69 (1), 72-77.). Tissue
characterization and plaque location can be detected
by the effective analysis method for pixel value of
medical images (Fig. 3). Thus, we also named this concept
as “Pixel Analysis in silico”.
We made about 100 presentations at international and
domestic conferences and meetings in cardiology and
radiology in one and a half year. Thank you for much
collaboration.
Contact Us
Dr Sei Komatsu (plaquemap@yahoo.co.jp)
Cardiovascular Division, Osaka Police Hospital
10-31 Kitayama-cho, Tennoji-ku,
Osaka, 543-8502 Japan
Phone +81 6 6771 6051
Fax +81 6 6775 2845
|
