title: Robust boundary detection and tracking of left ventricles on ultrasound images using active shape model and ant colony optimization.
abstract: Information regarding the motion, strain and synchronization are important for cardiac diagnosis and therapy. Extraction of such information from ultrasound images remains an open problem till today. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to extract the boundaries of left ventricles and track these boundaries in ultrasound image sequences. The initial detection of boundaries was performed by an active shape model scheme. Subsequent refinement of the boundaries was done by using local variance information of the images. The main objective of this paper is the formulation of a new boundary tracking algorithm using ant colony optimization technique. The experiments conducted on the simulated image sequences and the real cardiac ultrasound image sequences shows a positive and promising result.
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Yaonan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Jinling
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Sino-Dutch Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Sai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Ultrasound, The First Hospital of Chinese Medical University, Shenyang, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Active shape model; ant colony optimization; boundary tracking; image segmentation; motion estimation