Right Generalized Cylinder Model for Vascular Segmentation

A cylindrical geometric model, the right generalized cylinder (RGC) model, is presented in this chapter. This model follows the definition given by Binford in his taxonomy. The model can define complex (as well as simple) cylinders with few parameters, and it could be used to construct digital phantoms, simulate vascular shapes, create 3D models to train physicians, or even guide a vessel tracking algorithm to segment a vessel from 3D vascular images. The vessel tracking algorithm is presented together with the strategy to compute RGC models from bi-dimensional contours.