Computing left ventricular hemodynamics from echographic optical flow of CEUS microspheres

Abstract

We present a novel ultrasonographic approach to compute hemodynamics in the heart cavities. We estimate blood motion flow by exploiting the apparent visual flow of motion in ultrasonographic image sequences enhanced by the use of an echographic contrast agent. We describe the optical flow and segmentation approaches used specifically for determining blood flow in the left intraventricular cavity. We report preliminary results obtained using contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) data. This method has applications for performing diagnostics (for myocardial or valvular pathologies such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or mitral valve insufficiency.) It can be used for validating cardiac biomechanical models. Finally, it can be employed for detecting laceration and hemorrhage, or characterizing the vascularization of metastatic tissues in organs such as the liver.