Detection of and validation of shadows in intravascular images

1. A method of detecting a shadow in an intravascular image, the method comprising:

storing, using an intravascular diagnostic system, one or more intravascular datasets, each intravascular datasets comprising a plurality of scan lines in one or more electronic memory devices;

determining a plurality of line projections on a per scan line basis, using one or more computing devices of the intravascular diagnostic system, each line projection determined using a near tissue offset and far tissue offset;

determining, using the one or more computing devices of the intravascular diagnostic system, local estimates of tissue intensity using the line projections;

determining, using the one or more computing devices of the intravascular diagnostic system, a locally adaptive threshold that varies across scanlines;

identifying shadows, using the one or more computing devices of the intravascular diagnostic system, that represent features of interest in the one or more intravascular datasets using groupings of contiguous scanlines in which the local estimates of intensity fall below the locally adaptive threshold; and

displaying one or more of the features of interest using the intravascular diagnostic system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising

determining a plurality of near offsets for the plurality of scan lines; and

determining a plurality of far offsets for the plurality of scan lines.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising

identifying a candidate shadow based upon presence of a local minimum within the line projection, wherein an intensity of the local minimum is less than a given fraction of one or more maximum intensities found within a neighborhood on either side of a scanline of the plurality of scan lines.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising estimating a plurality of slope values relative to a search window around each scan line to identify changes in slope indicative of an edge of a shadow region.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising performing one or more shadow validation methods with respect to a detected edge.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the local estimates of tissue intensity are a smoothed projection generated on a per scan line basis.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising searching for one or more relative extrema along the smoothed projection and identifying a shadow using the one or more relative extrema based on a signature.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the signature is a valley disposed between two peaks.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying shadows comprises performing a search for shadow regions within one or more line projections.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising validating the shadows identified.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein validating the shadows further comprises detecting one or more edges with a kernel.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising displaying one or more objects in a representation of a blood vessel, the objects associated with the one or more validated shadows.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying shadows for line projections below a locally adaptive threshold.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising generating a locally adaptive threshold (LAT) on a per scan line basis using a local mean tissue value.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more steps of the method are implemented using a diagnostic system comprising an input to receive one or more intravascular datasets, one or more electronic memory devices to store the one or more intravascular datasets, one or more computing devices in electrical communication with the input and the one or more memory devices, and instructions, image filters and image processing software modules executable by the one or more computing devices to perform one or more steps of the method.

16. A method of detecting a shadow in an intravascular image, the method comprising:

storing, using an intravascular diagnostic system, one or more intravascular datasets, each intravascular datasets comprising a plurality of scan lines in one or more electronic memory devices;

determining, using one or more computing devices of the intravascular diagnostic system, a first offset and a second offset for the plurality of scan lines;

determining, using one or more computing devices of the intravascular diagnostic system, a line projection for each of the scan lines by averaging samples between the first offset and the second offset;

performing, using one or more image processing operators of the one or more computing devices, a search for shadow regions within the line projections;

validating the shadows identified; and

displaying, using the intravascular diagnostic system, one or more objects in a representation of the blood vessel, the one or more objects associated with the one or more validated shadows.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the intravascular diagnostic system is an optical coherence tomography system.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising generating a LAT on a per scan line basis using a local mean tissue value.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising identifying shadows for line projections below the LAT.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising performing local minima search to identify additional candidate shadows.

21. The method of claim 16 further comprising performing edge refinement on one or more shadow bounding scan lines using a measured slope value of the line projection.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein one or more steps of the method are implemented using a diagnostic system comprising an input to receive one or more intravascular datasets, one or more electronic memory devices to store the one or more intravascular datasets, one or more computing devices in electrical communication with the input and the one or more memory devices, and instructions, image filters and image processing software modules executable by the one or more computing devices to perform one or more steps of the method.