Deformable Model Alignment for 3D Echocardiography
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 3D echocardiography tools require manual alignment of the left ventricular long-axis, which is time-consuming and prone to errors due to heart movement during the cardiac cycle, leading to artificial wall thickening and incorrect positioning of basal slices.
Innovation Solution
A method using deformable models fitted to cardiac structures within a 3D dataset, with a processor identifying feature points and automatically adjusting image views to account for heart movement, allowing for real-time alignment and correction of image slices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If manual alignment of the left ventricular long-axis is used, then the user can identify landmarks on one image frame and apply them to remaining frames, but this increases examination time and may lead to errors due to heart movement during the cardiac cycle
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic alignment by fitting deformable models to cardiac structures in each image frame independently, allowing the system to self-correct for heart movement without requiring manual intervention in each frame. The deformable models automatically adapt to the changing positions of cardiac structures throughout the cardiac cycle, eliminating the need for users to manually realign landmarks while maintaining high alignment accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses deformable models that can dynamically adapt their shape and position to match the moving cardiac structures in each frame. These models are not static but flex and deform to accommodate the changing geometry of the heart during contraction and relaxation, enabling accurate tracking of myocardial tissue positions throughout the cardiac cycle without manual intervention.
2Device complexity
If fixed spatial positions are maintained for image slices throughout the cardiac cycle, then the user can simplify processing, but this causes out-of-plane motion that leads to artificial wall thickening and incorrect positioning of basal slices
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the spatial positioning of image slices by fitting deformable models to each frame, allowing the slices to move with the cardiac structures rather than remaining fixed. This dynamic adjustment prevents out-of-plane motion artifacts and ensures that basal slices remain correctly positioned throughout the cardiac cycle, eliminating artificial wall thickening while maintaining manageable processing complexity through automated model-based tracking.
3Extent of automation
If deformable models are fitted to cardiac structures in each image frame, then automatic alignment and correction of image views is achieved, but this requires sophisticated processing algorithms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical alignment operations with an automated computational system that uses deformable model fitting. Instead of users manually adjusting and aligning image slices based on visual inspection, the system uses mathematical models and image processing algorithms to automatically fit deformable models to cardiac structures, extract feature points, and generate corrected image views. This substitution of manual mechanical operations with automated computational processes achieves high-level automation while the algorithm complexity is managed through established image processing techniques.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for automatically identifying image views in a three-dimensional dataset comprises accessing with a processor a three-dimensional dataset comprising a plurality of image frames and fitting with the processor at least one deformable model to at least one structure within each of the image frames. The method further comprises identifying with the processor at least one feature point within each of the image frames based on the at least one deformable model and displaying on a display at least one image view based on the at least one feature point.