Quantification of asynchronous displacement of heart borders

An improved model is developed for studying frame-by-frame segmental wall motion based on the centerline method. The method measures motion along perpendiculars to a centerline drawn midway between the end diastolic and end systolic contours. However, when motion is 'asynchronous', wall motion may appear akinetic or dyskinetic, and the perpendiculars defined at the end systole may intersect each other at other time points in the cardiac cycle. A solution is presented that is based on constructing a centerline between two borders representing the locus of maximum motion of each heart.<<ETX>>