The computerised system for measurement of the intima-media thickness

The quickest developments of non-invasive medical diagnostic methods are observed. One of them is high-resolution ultrasonic imaging. It can demonstrate the layers of the arterial wall with a high degree of clarity. The paper deals with the short description of the computerised system for measurement of the intima-media thickness, which can be used for the evaluation of the vascular wall. The image transformations, which improve quality of the ultrasonography images during computerised medical evaluation, are presented. The measurement can be performed manually or semi-automatic. The system is based on Doppler-duplex ultrasonography system and IBM PC computer with frame grabber board. Measurement are performed off-line on the frozen images recorded on videotape although real-time images are also recorded to simplify the evaluation of the structure. The described system can be use for archival purposes as well for current medical diagnostics. The computer software is written in Visual C++ programming language under WINDOWS system.