Estimation of right ventricular volume without geometrical assumptions utilizing cardiac magnetic resonance data

Object of this study is to provide a new method to estimate right ventricular volume. The right ventricle (RV) is a complex crescent-shaped structure and, contrary to the left ventricle, it cannot be suitable with any simple geometric model existing in medical literature. To test RV volume estimation based on level set method, we performed RV endocardial surface detection on reconstructed cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) studies. Level set algorithm has been integrated into a package for 3D reconstruction of medical images, navigation and processing. The semi-automatic procedure has been applied to end-systolic (ES) and end-diastolic (ED) frames of MRI data belonging to 5 patients affected by dilative and infiltrative pathologies and 5 affected by congenital heart diseases. This study demonstrates the feasibility of accurate evaluation of RV chamber size and shape, even in case of irregular geometry.