Volumetric Analysis of the Heart Using Echocardiography

摘要

This paper presents a volumetric cardiac analysis and movement reconstruction algorithm from echocardiographic image sequences and electrocardiography (ECG) records. The method consists of two-dimensional (2-D) echocardiogram transformation, shape detection, heart wall movement identification, volumetric analysis and 4-D model construction. Although the semi-periodic behavior of the ECG and the breath caused heart rate variance disturbs spatial and temporal reconstruction, the presented algorithm is able to overcome these problems in most cases for normal and ventricular beats. The obtained model provides a tool to investigate volumetric variance of the heart and the phenomenon of normal and abnormal heart beating that makes possible to explore continuously the heart's inner structure.