Spatio-temporal segmentation of the heart in 4D MRI images using graph cuts with motion cues

With the increasing availability of 4D cardiac imaging technologies, the need for efficient spatio-temporal segmentation algorithms for the heart is growing. We propose a new method for heart segmentation in 4D data sets. We efficiently use the established graph cut method for the segmentation of the heart by simultaneously exploiting motion and region cues. We construct a 4D graph designed to find a moving object with a uniform intensity from a static background. This method has useful applications ranging from qualitative tasks such as direct visualization of the heart by removing its surrounding structures, to quantitative tasks such as measurements and analysis of the total heart volume. The method has been tested on cardiac MRI sequences with successful results.