CARDIAC-BORDER SEGMENTATION IN 2D ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IMAGE SEQUENCE USING LEVEL SET METHOD TO MEASURE GLOBAL PARAMETERS

Abstract

Identifying end-diastole (ED) and end-systole (ES) frames is highly important in the process of evaluating cardiac function and measuring global parameters accurately, such as ejection fraction (EF), cardiac output (CO) and stroke volume (SV). The aim of this study is to develop a new method based on measuring volume changes in left ventricle (LV) during cardiac cycle. For this purpose, the level set method is used both in detecting endocardium border and quantifying cardiac function of all frames. Demonstrating LV volumes at a time displays ED and ES frames and volumes used in calculating required parameters. Since ES and ED frames exist in iso-volumic phases of the cardiac cycle with minimum and maximum values of LV volume signals, such peaks can be utilized in finding related frames. The results obtained from 44 volunteers, as golden values, were validated by an experienced echocardiologist through manual annotation and comparison of EF, CO and SV measurements. These measurements prove the suggested method provides accurate and reliable automatic detection of ED and ES frames.