STRAIN ANALYSIS OF CARDIAC TISSUES FROM 3D ULTRASOUND IMAGES USING SNAKES AND SPECKLE TRACKING

• Published in: Journal of mechanics in medicine and biology Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 1540012 - 1-1540012-8
• Main Authors: LANCONELLI, NICO, MASETTI, SIMONE, NARDINOCCHI, PAOLA, TERESI, LUCIANO, PUDDU, PAOLO EMILIO, TORROMEO, CONCETTA, GIGLIO, VINCENZO
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore World Scientific Publishing Company 01.04.2015; World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte., Ltd
• Subjects: Heart; Image acquisition; Iterative methods; Mathematical analysis; Medical imaging; Pathology; Patients; Snakes; Strain analysis; Three dimensional; Tracking; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; 3D ultrasounds; Speckle tracking; strain analysis; echocardiography
• ISSN: 0219-5194; 1793-6810
• DOI: 10.1142/S0219519415400126

In this paper, we are presenting a method for achieving strain analysis of cardiac tissues from 3D ultrasound images. First of all, the left ventricle was segmented by an iterative snake algorithm which exploits the gradient vector flow field estimated from the 3D images. Once the ventricle was segmented, a set of points located on the external surface of the ventricle was selected. The movement of all these points along the entire cardiac cycle was calculated by using speckle tracking techniques. The strain of all the segments connecting two of the considered points was computed, together with the rotation of the points along the long axis of the ventricle. The method was tested on images acquired from 10 subjects: three with heart pathologies, five healthy subjects, and two patients with mild hypertrophy. Preliminary results showed the feasibility of characterizing healthy subjects and patients with well-defined heart pathologies by using the outcomes achieved with the strain analysis.