This report describes the development of a deformable model for
the automatic delineation of coronary artery cross-sectional areas with magnetic
resonance imaging. The method is validated with coronary artery phantoms of
varying diameters and images with different levels of signal-to-noise ratios.
The reproducibility of the technique was examined with simulated geometrical
shifts and motions during data acquisition. The experimental results indicate a
very high reproducibility and low inter-observers variability of the technique,
suggesting its suitability for non-invasive assessment of serial changes of vessel
dilatation following pharmacological intervention.