Cardiac Image Analysis: Motion and Deformation

In this chapter, we describe research in the area of estimation of cardiac motion and deformation from medical images. We focus primarily on the use of 3D magnetic resonance image sequences, but we will also discuss the application of some methods to ultrafast CT and 3D echocardiography. The estimation of cardiac motion and deformation from 3D images has been an area of major concentration in the medical image analysis. In these problems, the image data utilized are typically acquired in 16 frames consisting of 10 to 16 slices each. One such image slice through a canine heart acquired using magnetic resonance imaging is shown in Fig. 12.1 (as well as a reconstructed long-axis slice). In the figure, we label major areas such as the left and right ventricles and the two ventricular walls that bound the left ventricular myocardium (the endocardium and the epicardium). Most researchers have focused almost exclusively on the motion and deformation of the left ventricle. More recently, however, some preliminary work on right ventricular deformation has also appeared in the literature.