Quantitative comparison of new image processing methods for volumetric analysis of left ventricular contrast echocardiograms

Abstract

One of the main purposes of our investigation has been the development of new image processing methods, which allow a definite and precise tracking of the borderline of the ventricle in 2-dimensional echocardiograms. We report on our experience with two new methods, which are based on the grey-level rise (GL) and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in combined heart phase triggered image series and present a quantitative comparison of these time-series methods with the interpretation of 0 a single native image (non-contrast image) (NCI) a single contrast-material image (CMI) the corresponding subtraction image (SUB) the corresponding color superposition image (CS).The comparison is based on the calculation of the ejection fraction using the above mentioned methods and contains inter-observer variability and intra-observer variability.