title: Reconstruction of the descending thoracic aorta by multiview compounding of 3-D transesophageal echocardiographic aortic data sets for improved examination and quantification of atheroma burden.
abstract: A robust and efficient approach to reconstruction of the descending thoracic aorta from contiguous 3-D transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) images is proposed. An ad hoc image acquisition protocol was designed to acquire ordered and partially overlapped 3-D TEE data sets, followed by dedicated image processing to align and fuse all acquired data sets. Alignment strategy implemented pairwise rigid registration guided by a priori knowledge, and it was validated using artificially misaligned images. Image fusion was finally performed to enable visualization and analysis of extended field-of-view of the acquired aorta. The application of different fusion techniques was also investigated. The method was applied to a population of 17 consecutive patients. Qualitative and quantitative results supported the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed approach. In a clinical scenario, its application could allow the quantitative assessment of aortic plaque burden in the descending thoracic aorta from 3-D TEE images.
authors: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy; Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCSS, Milan, Italy.
authors: Maria Chiara
authors: MC
authors: Carminati
authors: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy; Universitá della Svizzera Italiana, Center for Computational Medicine in Cardiology, Lugano, Switzerland.
authors: Concetta
authors: C
authors: Piazzese
authors: Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging Laboratories, Department of Cardiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors: Lynn
authors: L
authors: Weinert
authors: Division of Cardiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors: Wendy
authors: W
authors: Tsang
authors: Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCSS, Milan, Italy.
authors: Gloria
authors: G
authors: Tamborini
authors: Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCSS, Milan, Italy.
authors: Mauro
authors: M
authors: Pepi
authors: Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging Laboratories, Department of Cardiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors: Roberto Miguel
authors: RM
authors: Lang
authors: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: enrico.caiani@polimi.it.
authors: Enrico Gianluca
authors: EG
authors: Caiani
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013382:Subtraction Technique
keywords: 3-D transesophageal echocardiography; Image fusion; Image registration; Morphologic reconstruction; Thoracic descending aorta