Measuring cardiac strain using Laplacian smoothing splines

Abstract

A scheme for obtaining strain maps from a set of MRI scans of the heart is presented. Using a technique known as the Spatial Modulation of Magnetization a set of MRI scans are generated with tag-lines distributed over the walls of the heart. As the heart moves, these tag-lines will move accordingly. Active contours or snakes are then used to extract the tag-lines from each MRI image, and the motion of the tag-lines determined. Laplacian smoothing splines are then used to estimate the displacement of points between the tag-lines. The strain experienced through out the heart is then a simple function of the associated displacement. Regional strain analysis is of vital importance in diagnosing different forms of heart disease, such as myocardial infarction or heart attack''. The method presented in this paper makes the analysis of cardiac strain feasible.