The Quantitative Blush Evaluator (QuBE) is an open-source tool for the computer-assisted assessment of myocardial perfusion (blush) from coronary angiograms. It provides an objective, quantitative score as an alternative to subjective, manual methods like Myocardial Blush Grade (MBG). The QuBE score has been shown to be a useful surrogate endpoint in clinical trials, correlating with patient outcomes after acute myocardial infarction.
- Go to the GitHub Releases page of this project.
- Download the latest
QuBE-1.0.jarfile. - Open a terminal or command prompt and run the following command:
java -jar QuBE-1.0.jarThe first screen of the QuBE program just asks for a DICOM file to load:
After loading the file, the first frame of the angiography run is shown (For demonstration purposes, a very poor blush sequence has been used).
The run can be played, or paused and any frame can be selected by dragging the slider at the bottom. By clicking in the image, the polygon where blush is expected can be constructed.
After a satisfying polygon is drawn, the "Recalculate" button will start the QuBE calculation process. This may take a while, depending on the computer hardware the program is run on. In this case, a very poor QuBE value is obtained, as hardly any darkening of the area of interest occurred.
This project is licensed under the terms of the license agreement found in the LICENSE.txt file.
For information, see the journal article:
Vogelzang M, Vlaar PJ, Svilaas T, Amo D, Nijsten MW, Zijlstra F. Computer-assisted myocardial blush quantification after percutaneous coronary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction: a substudy from the TAPAS trial. Eur Heart J. 2009;30(5):594-9.