Improved QDCM library & Use of Quadratic Bezier Function for Carotid Artery Plaque System

Abstract

Atherosclerosis risk assessment through the use of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) allows the classification of carotid artery plaque into low-risk or high-risk. MRI is generally used for identifying the effect of atherosclerosis on vessel lumens but it can also show the composition, size as well as give information on the plaque, hence providing data that simple stenosis does not offer. The paper reports on methods to: (i) improve the performance of an existing open-source library, and (ii) smoothen the generated 3D view. The QDCM (DICOM library for Qt) was modified by utilizing registers and pointers for faster operation to improve its loading & display of the image by a factor of 10,000% while the generated 3D view was smoothened with the use of quadratic Bezier function.