The Detection and Segmentation of Blush in the Lenticulostriate Territory

The lenticulostriate territory is a region in the brain that is only supplied by lenticulostriate vessels. As this region does not benefit from collateral blood flow, it warrants attention in the event of ischemic stroke. Perfusion in the lenticulostriate territory shows up as a blush in digital subtraction angiography. Although this blush is observable, visual inspection is subjective and qualitative while a quantitative figure of merit is desired. To allow quantitative analysis of this blush, a segmentation of the correct blush is necessary. In this paper, a deep-learning approach is proposed to perform the novel segmentation of the blush in the lenticulostriate territory. To provide a first quantification of the blush, the hemisphere in which it occurred is also segmented. The ratio between these segmentations is a quantification of the size of the blush compared to the size of the hemisphere. Results indicate proof of concept, but more steps are needed before clinical application.