Three-dimensional reconstruction of coronary stents in vivo based on motion compensated X-ray angiography

The complete expansion of the stent during a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedure is essential for treatment of a stenotic segment of a coronary artery. Inadequate expansion of the stent is a major predisposing factor to in-stent restenosis and acute thrombosis. Stents are positioned and deployed by fluoroscopic guidance. Although the current generation of stents are made of materials with some degree of radio-opacity to detect their location after deployment, proper stent expansion is hard to asses. In this work, we introduce a new method for the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the coronary stents in-vivo utilizing two-dimensional projection images acquired during rotational angiography (RA). The acquisition protocol consist of a propeller rotation of the X-ray C-arm system of 180°, which ensures sufficient angular coverage for volume reconstruction. The angiographic projections were acquired at 30 frames per second resulting in 180 projections during a 7 second rotational run. The motion of the stent is estimated from the automatically tracked 2D coordinates of the markers on the balloon catheter. This information is used within a motion-compensated reconstruction algorithm. Therefore, projections from different cardiac phases and motion states can be used, resulting in improved signal-to-noise ratio of the stent. Results of 3D reconstructed coronary stents in vivo, with high spatial resolution are presented. The proposed method allows for a comprehensive and unique quantitative 3D assessment of stent expansion that rivals current X-ray and intravascular ultrasound techniques.