Real-time frame-to-frame automatic contour detection on echocardiograms

A PC-based system for real-time left ventricular endocardial contour detection on echocardiographic images has been developed in our laboratories. The system consists of an IBM-compatible PC equipped with a commercially available frame grabber and the special-purpose Minimum Cost Contour Detector (MCCD) board developed for this project. The MCCD board uses 1 or 2 Intel i960 processors and receives digital images (512*512*8 bit) from the frame grabber over a digital video bar in real time. The contour detection algorithm is based on dynamic programming. Detected contours and other results are transferred to the host via the AT-bus. Processing time is short enough for real-time performance in a practical situation. Area of contours and regional areas in 8 segments are calculated in real time and displayed in graphs on the host system. The MCCD board is fully programmable and may be used for similar real-time contour detection applications, e.g. for X-ray angiography and intravascular ultrasound