Estimation of 3D left ventricular deformation from echocardiography

The quantitative estimation of regional cardiac deformation from 3D image s equences has important clinical implications for the assessment of viabilit y in the heart wall. Such estimates have so far been obtained almost exclus ively from Magnetic Resonance (MR) images, specifically MR tagging. In this paper we describe a methodology for estimating cardiac deformations from 3 D echocardiography (3DE). The images are segmented interactively and then i nitial correspondence is established using a shape-tracking approach. A den se motion field is then estimated using a transversely isotropic linear ela stic model, which accounts for the fiber directions in the left ventricle. The dense motion field is in turn used to calculate the deformation of the heart wall in terms of strain in cardiac specific directions. The strains o btained using this approach in open-chest dogs before and after coronary oc clusion, show good agreement with previously published results in the liter ature. They also exhibit a high correlation with strains produced in the sa me animals using implanted sonomicrometers. This proposed method provides q uantitative regional 3D estimates of heart deformation from ultrasound imag es. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.