Planning of interventions to treat cardiac arrhythmia requires a 3D patient specific model of the heart. Currently available commercial or free software dedicated to this task have important limitations for routinely use. Automatic algorithms are not robust enough while manual methods are time-consuming. Therefore, the project attempts to develop an optimal software tool. The heart model is generated from preoperative MR data-sets acquired with contrast agent and allows visualisation of damaged cardiac tissue. A requirement in the development of the software tool was the use of semi-automatic functions to be more robust. Once the patient image dataset has been loaded, the user selects a region of interest. Thresholding functions allow selecting the areas of high intensities which correspond to anatomical structures filled with contrast agent, namely cardiac cavities and blood vessels. Thereafter, the targetstructure, for example the left ventricle, is coarsely selected by interactively outlining the gross shape. An active contour function adjusts automatically the initial contour to the image content. The result can still be manually improved using fast interaction tools. Finally, possible scar tissue located in the cavity muscle is automatically detected and visualized on the 3D heart model. The model is exported in format which is compatible with interventional devices at hospital. The evaluation of the software tool included two steps. Firstly, a comparison with two free software tools was performed on two image data sets of variable quality. Secondly, six scientists and physicians tested our tool and filled out a questionnaire. The performance of our software tool was visually judged more satisfactory than the free software, especially on the data set of lower quality. Professionals evaluated positively our functionalities regarding time taken, ease of use and quality of results. Improvements would consist in performing the planning based on different MR modalities.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.