AUTOMATED CONTOUR-DETECTION AND ACOUSTIC QUANTIFICATION

Echocardiographic left and right ventricular sequences are usually int erpreted visually but current quantitation techniques have been found to be tedious, time-consuming and associated with significant inter- a nd intra-observer variabilities. In an attempt to eliminate these prob lems, we have developed the Echocardiographic Analysis System (EAS) wh ich uses robust automated border detection techniques both for single frames as well as for sequences. Comparison of LV cross-sectional area with the semi-automated border detection (AUTO) and those assessed fr om manual tracings (MAN) yielded a systematic difference (MAN-AUTO) of -6.6% (p < 0.001), and a random difference (standard deviation of pai red signed differences) of 11.8%. Current developments are directed to wards real-time automated border detection with an Accelerator board, integration of Acoustic Quantification (AQ) data as edge information i nto EAS, and intravascular echocardiographic applications.