Integration of multiple sensor modalities in active vessel cardiology workstation

Active vessel is a new multimedia workstation which enables the visualization, acquisition and handling of different medical image modalities on- and offline for cardiology purposes. It implements DICOM v3.0 decompression and browsing, video acquisition, reproduction and storage for intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and angiogram analysis. A distinctive implementation feature is the automatic catheter segmentation in angiography images. Another distinctive feature is the interactive mode of model correction via mouse dragging. A third and novel technical solution of the catheter path reconstruction is the integration with a magneto-sensitive micro-device inside the catheter for faster and safer minimal invasive surgical intervention. The paper gives the overview of the entire system, its basic new functionalities and the proposed technical solution of integration of four (instead of three) sensor modalities in cardiovascular practice.