title: Automatic determination of aortic compliance with cine-magnetic resonance imaging: an application of fuzzy logic theory.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aortic compliance is defined as the relative change in aortic cross-sectional area divided by the change in arterial pressure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a useful imaging modality for the noninvasive evaluation of aortic compliance. However, manual tracing of the aortic contour is subject to important interobserver variations. To estimate the aortic compliance from cine-MRI, a method based on fuzzy logic theory was elaborated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven healthy volunteers and eight patients with Marfan syndrome were examined using an ECG gated cine-MRI sequence. The aorta was imaged in the transverse plane at the level of the pulmonary trunk. A method based on fuzzy logic was developed to automatically detect the aortic contour.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Through our robust automatic contouring method, the calculation of aortic cross-sectional areas allows an estimation of the aortic compliance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The aortic compliance can be obtained from a fuzzy logic based automatic contouring method, thereby avoiding the important interobserver variation often associated with manual tracing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biophysique, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. alalande@u-bougogne.fr
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lalande
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Khau van Kien
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Salvé
authors.forename: Douraied
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ben Salem
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Legrand
authors.forename: Paul Michael
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Jean-Eric
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brunotte
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001011:Aorta / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D008382:Marfan Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged