Synthetic reconstruction of human carotid vasculature using a 2-D/3-D interface

Synthetic reconstruction of the human carotid vasculature is important for various experimental research related to in-depth clinical understanding of the underlying hemodynamics. Design of accurate/approximate digital cerebro-vascular phantoms is a complex and difficult task, especially due to its complex geometry and interconnections. In this work, we have developed a 2-D/3-D interface for mathematical reconstruction of both approximate and accurate carotid arterial tree. Theory and methods related to the design of 3-D mathematical models are also discussed in details. The approximate phantoms are designed using sphere-based tubular structures, with a help of a custom-designed 2-D/3-D user interface. Accurate phantoms are designed from the patient's CTA images using an interactive mapping interface. In both the cases, multiple tubular structures with varying diameters are combined using piecewise cubic Bèzier Curves to generate the complete arterial phantom, around the Circle of Willis. Multi-level bifurcation phantoms with varying diameters are also presented with a qualitative analysis of the findings.