title: A spatiotemporal statistical atlas of motion for the quantification of abnormal myocardial tissue velocities.
abstract: In this paper, we present a new method for the automatic comparison of myocardial motion patterns and the characterization of their degree of abnormality, based on a statistical atlas of motion built from a reference healthy population. Our main contribution is the computation of atlas-based indexes that quantify the abnormality in the motion of a given subject against a reference population, at every location in time and space. The critical computational cost inherent to the construction of an atlas is highly reduced by the definition of myocardial velocities under a small displacements hypothesis. The indexes we propose are of notable interest for the assessment of anomalies in cardiac mobility and synchronicity when applied, for instance, to candidate selection for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We built an atlas of normality using 2D ultrasound cardiac sequences from 21 healthy volunteers, to which we compared 14 CRT candidates with left ventricular dyssynchrony (LVDYS). We illustrate the potential of our approach in characterizing septal flash, a specific motion pattern related to LVDYS and recently introduced as a very good predictor of response to CRT.
authors.affiliation: Center for Computational Imaging & Simulation Technologies in Biomedicine, Information & Communication Technologies Department, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. nicolas.duchateau@upf.edu
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duchateau
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Craene
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piella
authors.forename: Etelvino
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Adelina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doltra
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sitges
authors.forename: Bart H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Bijnens
authors.forename: Alejandro F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Frangi
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009038:Motion; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*