Statistical analysis of transmural laminar microarchitecture of the human left ventricle

A good knowledge of the cardiac microarchitecture is essential for better understanding the function of the human heart. This paper investigates the transmural 3D microstructure of the left ventricle of the human heart. An ex-vivo sample (7 × 7 × 15 mm3) extracted from the anterior wall of the myocardium is imaged using X-rays phase contrast micro-tomography. Sampling the volume at high isotropic resolution of 3.5 × 3.5 × 3.5 μm3 allows a clear reveal of the laminar structure of collagen wrapping the myocytes groups. An image processing protocol is developed to automatically extract cleavage planes and compute statistics of their thickness and distance separating them. The results show the clear presence of cleavage planes in the myocardium and their variation in terms of thickness, interplanes distances and local orientation, which contribute to a better understanding of the human heart function.