Three-dimensional ultrasound is emerging as a viable resource for the imagi
ng of internal organs. Quantitative studies correlating ultrasonic volume m
easurements with MRI data continue to validate this modality as a more effi
cient alternative for 3D imaging studies. However, the processing required
to form 3D images from a set of 2D images may result in a loss of spatial r
esolution and may give rise to artifacts. This paper examines a method of a
utomatic feature extraction and data quantification in 3D data sets as comp
ared with original 2D data. This work will implement an active contour algo
rithm to automatically extract the endocardial borders of septal defects in
echocardiographic images, and compare the size of the defects in the origi
nal 2D images and the 3D data sets. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. AU right
s reserved.