Shape-based 4D left ventricular myocardial function analysis
Describes further efforts aimed at more accurately and objectively determining and quantifying the local, regional and global function of the left ventricle (LV) of the heart from four-dimensional (4D) image data. By studying the endocardial-epicardial surface properties of LV wall over many temporal frames within a cardiac cycle and over a range of conditions of LV wall abnormalities, one will be able to better understand the physiological processes associated with ischemic heart disease. Here, the authors first briefly describe the setup for an in vivo experimental model and the imaging techniques, including the use of implanted imaging opaque markers that will permit the authors to establish the gold standard against which the validity of their noninvasive image analysis algorithms can be evaluated, as well as permit them to study the efficacy of using in vivo, image-derived measures of function for predicting regional myocardial viability. Then, the shape-based image analysis methods, particularly the authors' new developments in surface triangulation from segmented contour stacks of LV wall, surface curvature estimation, pointwise non-rigid motion tracking, quantitative measures of LV motion and thickening, and 3D visualization techniques, are discussed. Finally, initial experimental results using image sequences from two different modalities are presented.<<ETX>>