Automatic measurement of blood flow using artificial vision

A study of the dynamics of filling and emptying of the heart is of great interest for diagnosing cardiac disease. Measuring the rate of blood through the orifices of the heart, using the Doppler method, enables one to estimate cardiac flows and, therefore, cardiac dynamics. A system of artificial vision is described in this article which, starting with the Doppler images, processes the image in order to segment the edges of the orifices of the heart and measure their size. In this way, the instantaneous flow is obtained by means of simple mathematical formulae. Satisfactory results have been obtained which have been assessed by comparing them with accepted techniques (invasive measures).