Automatic detection of left ventricular endocardium in cardiac images

An algorithm is presented which locates a globally optimal endocardium in cardiac images. The algorithm does not make any distinction between convex and nonconvex parts of the endocardium. More complex cost functions can be used which would allow the use of more a priori information. An interesting aspect of the algorithm is that the two searches are independent, and hence the algorithm could be implemented on a multiprocessor machine. If more operator-defined start points are available, then the number of simultaneous searches can be increased, e.g., if two start points are defined, four simultaneous searchers can be performed