In this paper, we propose a new approach to evaluate the ventricle dynamics in monoplane ventriculography. The approach is divided into two main steps: first, the 2D image plane motion (x,y motions) of the heart is evaluated and next the depth motion (z motion) is estimated. To compute the x,y motions we use two methods: first a radial method in which regional wall motion is assumed to converge toward the image center of the left ventricle and second, a computer vision method named optical flow. These methods are applied to the segmented ventriculograms that are obtained by setting to 0 and 1 the exterior and interior respectively of the ventricle using an edge detection algorithm. From the x,y motions, one can align (register) two consecutive original ventriculograms in a manner to make the ventricle contours meet exactly. This operation is done with a gray level bilinear interpolation technique that actually remove the x and y motion components between the two frames. If one assumes that the contrast medium has a constant concentration and is uniformly distributed in the ventricle then the brightness difference between the aligned ventriculograms is directly related to the z motion. Using a pseudo-color image to display this third component of the ventricle motion, one is able to display the 3D motion of the left ventricle. Results are presented for an ellipsoid model of the ventricle undergoing different contraction behaviors and for a clinical example.

Date Published: 11 May 1994
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2167, Medical Imaging 1994: Image Processing, (11 May 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.175064

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2167:
Medical Imaging 1994: Image Processing
Murray H. Loew, Editor(s)