Left ventricular wall motion analysis using operator-independent contour positioning

A method has been developed for the analysis of left ventricular wall motion which obviates the operator's involvement in the relative positioning of the systolic and diastolic contours. This was achieved by maximizing the cross-correlation function for the two silhouettes . The technique was compared with a standard method requiring the operator's definition of a long axis for the left ventricle. The results for 21 normal angiograms showed that with the cross-correlation technique the confidence region of the wall motion curves was markedly narrower and the symmetry in the contractile pattern between the anterior and posterior wall segments was better than with the standard technique. Statistical concepts for narrowing the normal group and the sources of errors in the analysis are discussed.