Medical image processing: An overview of and case study in the diagnosis of cardiac diseases

Abstract

In this paper an overview is presented on R&D of medical imaging and image processing techniques in Japan during the last decade, focusing on case studies in the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. Various problems of image processing of left ventricular images obtained from x-ray, ultrasound and radionuclides are discussed. Also reviewed are boundary detection methods of left ventricular inner cavity and myocardium, analysis of left ventricular wall motion and various kinds of cardiac functions using conventional and newly developed methods, and display methods of these cardiac functions. Microcomputerized on-line image processing systems and a compound sector scan echocardiography using two probes developed for echocardiographic examinations are shown with some results in clinical applications. 3-dimensional reconstruction methods of the left ventricle and other organs from multiple 2-dimensional images are shown with 3-dimensional shapes reconstructed from images by x-ray, ultrasound and radionuclides. Moreover, 3-dimensional functional images of the left ventricle are shown as well. Transferring the 3-dimensional consecutive left ventricular images during a cardiac cycle onto a CRT display under the control of a microprocessor, we can observe the pulsating 3-dimensional left ventricle on the CRT.