[ITK-users] speed function for itkSpeedToPathFilter

[Dan Mueller]

Hi Prashanth,

Essentially you want your speed function to be white (1.0) in the
vessels and black (0.0) outside of the vessels — any way you can
achieve this is fine. The method you have outline is very general, and
the issue is step (1) i.e. finding an approximate centreline. Some
have suggested achieving this by applying multiscale Hessian line
filtering (aka vessel enhancement filtering) such as Sato/Frangi
method — while this can achieve good results, personally I find this
method very slow. In my own work, I have found morphological top-hat
by opening (aka white top-hat or WTH) produces good results at a
fraction of the computation expense, especially using the box
structuring element with acceleration (e.g. see [1]).

Good luck.

Cheers, Dan

[1] “Direct volume illustration for cardiac applications,” chapter 4,
page 83–109, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17028/1/Daniel_Mueller_Thesis.pdf

On 22 August 2015 at 06:52, Prashanth <prashanth.dumpuri at gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
> I'm working on finding the shortest path between two points in a vessel
> tree. itkSpeedToPathFilter seems to be working well for me as long as I
> select the right speed function. Digging through Insight Journal, I found a
> link to Deschamp's Ph.D. thesis
> (https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/file/index/docid/45537/filename/index.html)
> which outlines one method to select a speed function:
>
> 1. Approximate centerline based on the input image
> 2. Segmentation using the approximate centerline
> 3. Use the segmented image and approximate centerline to create an image
> with signed distances to the approximate centerline
> 4. Use the above image as the  input speed function for itkSpeedToPathFilter
>
> The above steps seem to work (I say 'seem to work' because I tested it just
> three 2D images so far), but are there other methods to select the speed
> function? My input images are contrast enhanced CT images and the vessels
> are easy to identify and segment. Any help on how to select the correct
> speed function will be appreciated.
>
> Thanks
> Prashanth
>
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