3D reconstruction of the beating left ventricle and mitral valve based on multiplanar TEE

Imaging of the human heart by means of multiplane transesophageal ultrasound offers the possibility to analyze the dynamics and motion of the ventricle and valve. To improve the understanding of ventricle functioning, a three-dimensional voxel-based reconstruction for each phase of the beating heart, which represents one full heart cycle, was employed. Arbitrary and animated views of the beating heart are possible. Clinical applications include quantification of left ventricular regional wall motion abnormalities in ischemic heart disease and assessment of mitral valve pathology. The first results indicate that the multiplane probe combines the advantage of data acquisition from one stable transducer position, supporting relatively straightforward reconstruction algorithms, with the high resolution of transesophageal images