Improved segmentation of echocardiographic images using fusion of images from different cardiac cycles.
In this work, an algorithm for the detection of the left ventricular border in two-dimensional long axis echocardiographic images is presented. In its preprocessing stage, images fusion was applied to a sequence of images composed of three cardiac cycles. This method exploits the similarity of corresponding frames from different cycles and produces contrast enhancement in the left ventricular boundary. This result improves the performance of the segmentation stage which is based on watershed transformation. The obtained left ventricle border is quantitatively and qualitatively compared with contours manually segmented by a cardiologist, and with results obtained using seven different techniques from the literature.
Amorim
Junier Caminha
JC
Electrical Engineering Department, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF 70910-900, Brazil. junieramorim@yahoo.com.br
Dos Reis
Maria do Carmo
Mdo C
de Carvalho
Joao Luiz Azevedo
JL
da Rocha
Adson Ferreira
AF
Camapum
Juliana Fernandes
JF
D000465:Algorithms; D055424:Cardiac-Gated Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique