Detection of ischaemic cardiopathy analysing 2D-echograms

Echocardiography is one of the main methods used in the confirmation of the cardiac muscle damage due to coronary artery disease and the complications of the illness, but it also helps to separate other kind of causes which can produce similar effects. The obstructive coronary injuries have repercussions mostly on the left ventricle, producing changes on wall-contractility, the shape of the cavity and also changes on the ventricle's function. Experience shows that right ventricle effects are rare and they are difficult to examine by using echocardiography. This study is focused on the analysis of two-dimensional echocardiograms of the left ventricle. Ischaemic cardiopathy causes modifications in the contractility of the affected myocardial region or regions, sometimes even the whole ventricle. The main steps of the proposed off-line method are: the enhancement of the images to emphasize the heterogeneous regions and to smooth the homogeneous ones, the extraction of the cavity's contour by using the active contour model (snakes) and then the examination of the found contour's motion. This motion is followed during at least a complete heart cycle when the hypokinetic, hyperkinetic and akinetic regions can be highlighted. Due to the poor quality of the echocardiograms the results do not have a quantitative representation. Geometrical information of the left ventricle (dimensions. areas, volumes) are provided but the most important achievement is a color interpretation of the contractile rate of the ventricle.