title: Automated quantification of left ventricular function by the automated contour tracking method.
abstract: The automated contour tracking (ACT) method has been developed for the automated measurement of area volume using the energy minimization method without tracing a region of interest. The purpose of this study was to compare the ACT method and left ventriculography (LVG) for the measurement of left ventricular (LV) function in the clinical setting. An apical four-chamber view was visualized by two-dimensional echocardiography and recorded for off-line analysis in 14 patients with high-quality images who underwent LVG. The ACT method automatically traces the endocardial border from the recorded images and calculates LV volumes (end-diastole and end-systole) and ejection fraction (EF). Both ACT and LVG were compared by linear regression analysis for the measurement of EF. EF determined by the ACT method agreed well with that by LVG (r = 0.96, y = 0.94x + 4.6, standard error of the estimate = 3.9%). The mean difference between the ACT and LVG was -1.4%+/- 7.3%. In conclusion, the ACT method is reliable for noninvasive estimation of EF in high-quality images. This suggests that this new technique may be useful in the automated quantification of LV function.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugioka
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hozumi
authors.forename: Toshikazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamuro
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akasaka
authors.forename: Kazuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Shunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*