Coronary angiography is a well known procedure involving x-ray examination of the blood vessels of the heart (i.e. the coronary arteries). A diagram illustrating a coronary angiography procedure is shown in FIG. 1. During this procedure, a catheter 12 is inserted into one of the two major coronary arteries in the body 10, and a radio-opaque contrast agent (i.e. dye) is injected into the blood stream to make the arteries in the heart 14 visible in x-ray images. The catheter is a long, thin, hollow tube introduced into the circulation and guided to the heart with X-rays. A coronary angiogram is a way of looking at the blood vessels of the heart (the coronary arteries) using this technique. Coronary angiography enables the radiologist or cardiologist to see any narrowing (i.e. stenosis) 16 of the blood vessels, which may inhibit the flow of blood and cause pain. It is performed for both diagnostic and interventional purposes.
It is desirable to have a mechanism that is able to automatically select one or more images from the angiography image set that are optimal for diagnosis and analysis by the cardiologist, radiologist technician or other medical personnel.