CardioAnalyser: A Software Tool for Segmentation and Analysis of the Left Ventricle from 4D MDCT Images of the Heart

Cardiac angiography using multiple detector row computerized tomography (MDCT) scanners provides 3D data concerning the heart and, in particular, the left ventricle (LV), for different cardiac phases along one cardiac cycle. Exploring this data for LV function analysis is not an easy task, given the amount of data and time involved in segmenting (or revising results provided by automatic segmentation methods) up to 12 cardiac phases. CardioAnalyser, a tool for 4D LV segmentation from MDCT data which provides a protocol to help perform LV segmentation of all cardiac phases available is presented. It uses an automatic segmentation algorithm along with a procedure which guides the user through the process. Its main goal is to reuse as much information as possible from one cardiac phase to the next in order to reduce segmentation time and the amount of user interaction.