Detection of blood flow in left ventricle by echocardiography using speckle image velocimetry

In order to evaluate the heart function, it is valuable to detect and visualize the blood flow inside the left ventricle (LV) of the heart. In this paper, a method for flow detection in LV is proposed based on the echocardiography by using the speckle image velocimetry (SIV). It first segments the LV from the echocardiography and then conducts the SIV in the LV and estimates displacement vectors of red blood cell aggregates. Finally, it calculates the flow velocity and depicts the velocity vectors for visualization. The experiments were carried out on both simulated images and clinical video images. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the method, indicating that the method may be helpful for assessment of the fluid dynamics of LV function and dysfunction.