Creation Of Motion Compensated MRI M-Mode Images Of The Myocardial Wall

• US 20100092059A1
• Filed: 09/24/2009
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Maier, Corinna
• Granted Patent: US 8,331,638 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/008 Specific post-processing after tomographic reconstruction, e.g. voxelisation, metal artifact correction
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10088 Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/246 using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments

Abstract

A method for displaying medical image data includes receiving medical image data including a myocardium. An endocardial contour is automatically segmented from the received medical image data. A center of mass of the automatically segmented endocardial contour is determined. A plurality of equiangular projections is defined beginning from the center of mass and projecting outwardly and cross the endocardial contour. A plurality of normal projections that correspond to the plurality of equiangular projections is defined. Each normal projection begins from an end of a corresponding equiangular projection and extends for a predetermined length, crossing the endocardial contour at a right angle. Dynamics of the myocardium along each normal projection are displayed as a function of time.

Claims

1. A method for displaying medical image data, comprising:

receiving medical image data including a myocardium;

automatically segmenting an endocardial contour from the received medical image data;

determining a center of mass of the automatically segmented endocardial contour;

defining a plurality of equiangular projections that begin from the center of mass and project outwardly and cross the endocardial contour;

defining a plurality of normal projections that correspond to the plurality of equiangular projections, wherein each normal projection begins from an end of a corresponding equiangular projection and extends for a predetermined length, crossing the endocardial contour at a right angle; and

displaying dynamics of the myocardium along each normal projection as a function of time, wherein each of the above steps are performed by one or more image processing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the medical image data is acquired from an MRI.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the center of mass is a center of mass of a left ventricle (LV) blood pool.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of equiangular projections includes two, three, four, five or six equiangular projections.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined length of the normal projections is equal to a fraction of the length of a diagonal measurement of a region of interest of the medical image data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined length of the normal projections is equal to a quarter of the length of a diagonal measurement of a region of interest of the medical image data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each normal projection is defined as a closest possible line to the corresponding equiangular projection that crosses the endocardial contour at a right angle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayed change in size of the myocardium along each normal projection constitutes an M-mode image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the change in size of the myocardium along each normal projection as a function of time includes plotting an intensity profile for each normal projection for each of a sequence of frames.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein plotting the intensity profile includes establishing a set of equally spaced points along each normal projection, determining image intensity at each point using interpolation, and plotting the intensity at each equally spaced point.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein there are fifty equally spaced points.

12. A method for displaying medical image data, comprising:

receiving medial image data including a structure of interest;

automatically creating one or more projections that extend outwardly from a center of mass of the structure of interest and cross a perimeter of the structure of interest at right angle thereto; and

displaying dynamics of the structure of interest along each projection as a function of time, wherein each of the above steps are performed by one or more image processing devices.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the medical image is a magnetic resonance image (MRI).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the structure of interest is a left ventricle (LV) blood pool.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the projections are created by first creating one or more equiangular projections and then for each equiangular projection, creating a corresponding normal projection that extends from an end point of the corresponding equiangular projection for a predetermined length and crosses a perimeter of the structure of interest at a right angle.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the change in size of the structure of interest along each projection as a function of time includes, for each of a plurality of frames, displaying a one-dimensional set of pixel intensities along the projection as a single line such that a two-dimensional graph is constructed where each column of pixels constitutes a one-dimensional set of intensities for a particular frame.

17. A method for displaying medical image data, comprising:

receiving magnetic resonance (MR) image data;

automatically segmenting a structure of interest from the received image data;

determining a center of mass of the automatically segmented structure of interest;

defining a plurality of equiangular projections that begin from the center of mass and project outwardly and cross the structure of interest;

defining a plurality of normal projections that correspond to the plurality of equiangular projections, wherein each normal projection begins from an end of a corresponding equiangular projection and extends for a predetermined length, crossing a perimeter of the structure of interest at a right angle; and

displaying an M-mode image along each normal projection, wherein each of the above steps are performed by one or more image processing devices.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the structure of interest is a left ventricle (LV) blood pool.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein each normal projection is defined as a closest possible line to the corresponding equiangular projection that crosses the perimeter of the structure of interest at a right angle.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the M-mode image includes plotting an intensity profile for each normal projection for each of a sequence of frames.