An Image Processing Method for Cardiac Motion Analysis

A new image processing method is developed to process two-dimensional ultrasound B-scan echo images which makes possible the delineation of the displacement of cardiac boundaries for the precise assessment of infarcted/ischemic regions. An economic image processing system is designed for the purpose. An algorithm to compute the direction and amplitude of the displacement vector at any point in the cardiac image, given two frames of the image at two different time instants, is developed. The performance of the algorithm is examined with synthesized images. Displacement amplitudes along the boundaries of the left ventricle are plotted and compared for normal and diseased conditions.