Left ventricle 3D motion from single plane cineangiograms

The authors propose a new approach to evaluate the ventricle dynamics in monoplane ventriculography. The approach is divided into two main steps: first, the 2D image plane (x, y) motion of the heart is evaluated and next the depth motion (z motion) is estimated. From the (x, y) motion, one can align (register) two consecutive ventriculograms in a manner to make the ventricle contours meet exactly. If the contrast medium is uniformly distributed in the ventricle then the brightness difference between the aligned ventriculograms is directly related to the z motion. The algorithm cumulates the x, y and z motions from frame to frame to obtain the current total motion at a particular point of the cardiac cycle. Results are presented for an ellipsoid model and for two clinical examples showing both normal and abnormal contractions