Quantitative regional analysis of myocardial wall motion

This paper presents a new technique for semiautomatic quantification of reg ional heart function from 2-D echocardiography, It uses a novel left ventri cular border tracking algorithm based on shape-space ideas that we have rec ently described. In this paper, we show how to decompose the tracked output into clinically meaningful segmental parameters (wall excursion and thicke ning), using what we call a computational interpretational space (CIS), Thi s leads to a quantitative and automatic scoring scheme for endocardial excu rsion and myocardial thickening. The method is illustrated on data from a p atient with a myocardial infarct in the apical anterior/inferior region of the heart and is also assessed in a small retrospective dobutamine stress e chocardiography clinical case study. (C) 2001 World Federation for Ultrasou nd in Medicine & Biology.