A Microprocessor-Controlled Echocardiographic Tracking System

A real-time echocardiographic tracking system (ETS) has been designed and implemented to provide continuous real-time information on the position and motion of cardiac structures such as the anterior and posterior left ventricula wall. The ETS is capable of tracking two separate cardiac structures simultaneously and simplifies the task of extracting the dynamic positional information from aln M-mode echocardiogram. A study has been performed to denonstrate the feasibility of analyzing and processing signals from the motion of the left ventricular septal and posterior wall on three normal adult male subjects. This study demonstrates that the ETS can provide reliable and useful information relative to the simltaneous motion of the endocardial surface of the anterior and posterior wails of the left ventride and of the mitral valve. From this infonnation, it will be possible to evaluate dynamic ventricular function in human subjects noninvasively and in real time.