A spatiotemporal finite element mesh model of cyclical deforming motion and its application in myocardial motion analysis using phase contrast MR images

Presents a method for nonrigid cyclic motion analysis using a series of velocity images, acquired for example, from phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging. The method is based on fitting a global spatiotemporal finite element mesh model, which has controllable builtin spatial/temporal smoothing that is determined by the finesse of the initially defined mesh and richness of included Fourier harmonics, to velocity samples of an extended region at all time frames. If desired, the method can further provide a prediction of the analysis reproducibility along with the estimated motion and deformation quantities. Experiments have been conducted to validate the method and verify the reproducibility prediction.