Automatic Segmentation of Arteries in Multi-stain Histology Images

Abstract

Abstract-Atherosclerosis is a very common disease that affects millions of people around the world. Currently most of the studies conducted on this disease use Ultrasound Imaging (IVUS) to observe plaque formation, but these images cannot provide any detailed information of the specific morphological features of the plaque. Microscopic imaging using a variety of stains can provide much more information although, in order to obtain proper results, millions of images must be analyzed. We provide an automatic way to find the Region of Interest (ROI) of these images, where the atherosclerotic plaque is formed. Once the image is well-segmented the amount of fat and other measurements of interest can also be determined automatically. A proper study of these images provides valuable information that can be key to understanding the evolution of atherosclerosis.