摘要 |
The invention comprises a method and apparatus for generating a synthetic echocardiographic image. The method comprises first obtaining, for a plurality of pathologically similar reference hearts, a reference echocardiographic image of each reference heart at end-systole and at end-diastole. Next, the coupled epicardial and endocardial borders are identified in each echocardiographic image. An epicardial/endocardial border pair is then modeled from the identified borders. The method then locates a plurality of predetermined features in the reference echocardiographic images. The predetermined features are then located in the subject echocardiographic image from the location of the predetermined features in the reference echocardiographic images. The modeled epicardial/endocardial border pair is then mapped onto the subject echocardiographic image relative to the location of the predetermined features in the subject echocardiographic image. The apparatus generally comprises an echocardiographic machine for obtaining the echocardiographic images that are then processed by a computing system. In one aspect of the invention, the invention comprises such a computing system programmed to perform the autonomous portions of the method. In another aspect, the invention comprises a program storage medium encoded with instructions that perform the autonomous portions of the method when executed by a computer.
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