A spatiotemporal statistical atlas of motion for the quantification of abnormal myocardial tissue velocities

In this paper, we present a new method for the automatic comparison of myocardial motion patterns and the characterization of their degree of abnormality, based on a statistical atlas of motion built from a reference healthy population. Our main contribution is the computation of atlas-based indexes that quantify the abnormality in the motion of a given subject against a reference population, at every location in time and space. The critical computational cost inherent to the construction of an atlas is highly reduced by the definition of myocardial velocities under a small displacements hypothesis. The indexes we propose are of notable interest for the assessment of anomalies in cardiac mobility and synchronicity when applied, for instance, to candidate selection for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We built an atlas of normality using 2D ultrasound cardiac sequences from 21 healthy volunteers, to which we compared 14 CRT candidates with left ventricular dyssynchrony (LVDYS). We illustrate the potential of our approach in characterizing septal flash, a specific motion pattern related to LVDYS and recently introduced as a very good predictor of response to CRT.

The atlas-based comparison of individuals to a normal population allows the quantification of myocardial motion abnormalities at every spatiotemporal location. In the context of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), the method is used for the reproducible characterization of a specific pattern of dyssynchrony involved in CRT outcome.Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (96 K)Download as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights
► Method for automatic characterization of myocardial motion patterns and their abnormality.
► Applicable to any dynamic imaging modality but illustrated here on 2D ultrasound.
► Enables comparison of a patient against a reference population.
► Provides statistical measures of abnormality at every location in time and space.
► Potential tool for selection of likely responders to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).