A clinical distortion index for compressed echocardiogram evaluation: recommendations for Xvid codec.
This paper introduces a new clinical distortion index able to measure the decrease in diagnostic content in compressed echocardiograms. It is calculated using cardiologists' answers to a clinical testbed composed of two types of tests: one blind and the other semi-blind. This index may be used to compare clinical performance among video codecs from a clinical perspective. It can also be used to classify compression rates into useful and useless ranges, thus providing recommendations for echocardiogram compression. A study carried out in order to illustrate its use with Xvid video codec is also presented. The results obtained showed that, for 2D and M modes, the transmission rate should be at least 768 kbit s(-1) and for color Doppler mode and pulsed/continuous Doppler, 256 kbit s(-1).
Alesanco
A
A
Communication Technologies Group, Aragon Institute of Engineering Research, Zaragoza, Spain. alesanco@unizar.es
Hernández
C
C
Portolés
A
A
Ramos
L
L
Aured
C
C
García
M
M
Serrano
P
P
García
J
J
D000465:Algorithms; D044962:Data Compression / Q000592:standards*; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000592:standards*