Segmentation of cardiac and vascular ultrasound images with extension to border kinetics

We developed a segmentation algorithm adapted to cardiac and vascular structures in ultrasound image sequences which tries to consider the specificities of ultrasonography (texture, dropouts, high frame rate, ...). The problems of extraction of the left ventricle from apical and parasternal short axis views as well as the vascular lumen from intravascular views are notably addressed using a variety of deformable models called “Snake-Splines”, coupled with specific knowledge of ultrasound image characteristics. However, the method can be applied to any structure. The research is currently being continued to quantitate the movement of the extracted elements through the sequences