Cardiac wall tracking using Doppler tissue imaging (DTI)

Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) is a new technique that provides image information on values of intramyocardial wall velocity. This specific capability makes easier the automatic myocardial boundary extraction and tracking task. We apply a variation on active contour models to an M-mode ultrasound image. This is in fact an image made from a time sequence of digitized 1D images. To the feature energy term derived from the grey scale conventional ultrasound image, is added a velocity term that makes the time displacement in the image close to the DTI data velocity. This permits data fusion of the two images obtained from conventional and DTI techniques. We illustrate the efficiency of the method that is now used by clinicians