Accurate estimation of the myocardium global function from reduced magnetic resonance image acquisitions

Evaluating the heart global function from magnetic resonance images is based on estimating a number of functional parameters such as the left ventricular (LV) volume, LV mass, ejection fraction, and stroke volume. Estimating these parameters requires accurate calculation of the volumes enclosed by the inner and outer surfaces of the LV chamber at the max contraction and relaxation states of the heart. Currently, this is achieved through acquisition and segmentation of a large number of short-axis (SAX) views of the LV, which is time-consuming and expensive. Reducing the number of acquisitions results in undersampling the LV surfaces and hence increases the calculation errors. In this work, we describe and evaluate a method for estimating the cardiac parameters from a small number of image acquisitions that includes one long-axis (LAX) view of the LV. In this method, the LAX contour is used to swipe the SAX contours to fill in the missed LV surface between the SAX slices. Results on 25 patients and CT phantoms shows that, given the same number of slices, the proposed method is superior to other methods.