This paper presents a semi-automatic method for tracking the mitral valve leaflet in transesophageal echocardiography. The algorithm requires a manual initialization and then segments an image sequence. The use of two constrained active contours and curve fitting techniques results in a fast segmentation algorithm. The active contours successfully track the inner cardiac muscle and the mitral v...

Assessment of mitral annular tissue velocity plays an essential role in the evaluation of diastolic dysfunction. We have previously shown that mitral annular velocities can be derived from standard four-chamber cine SSFP images by automatically detecting and tracking the mitral valve insertion points [1]. However, this method has not been validated against tissue Doppler echocardiography, the s...

W report the case of a 70 year-old woman of Caucasic origin. She was admitted to the emergency department for dyspnoea and hospitalised for acute pulmonary oedema. On admission, eosinophilia was documented. Twodimension (2D) echocardiography displayed normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF = 65%) and transmitral restrictive pattern. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) cine images showed a...

The role of cardiac computed tomography (CT) for evaluating the mitral valve (MV) has been limited since echocardiography is the main method of evaluation. However, recent advances in cardiac CT have enable detailed evaluation of the anatomy and geometry of the MV. We describe assessments of the anatomy and coaptation geometric parameters of normal MVs, and also review repair of diseased/damage...

Dear Editor, Ladombarda et al’s article attracted our attention. They showed for the first time three-dimensional echocardiographic images of rhabdomyoma complicated with tuberous sclerosis in an infant. In their case, observation by two-dimensional echocardiography, if made cautiously, would have revealed almost all features of the tumours and the cardiac functional morphology. Furthermore, do...

Hemolytic anemia is recognized as a rare complication of mitral valve replacement or repair. We report on a 44-year-old man with shortness of breath and hemolytic anemia, 23 years after mitral valve replacement (Hall-Kaster), and a 63-year-old woman diagnosed of hemolytic anemia, 4 years after mitral and tricuspid annuloplasty (Tailor ring, An-core ring). Routine 2-dimensional transthoracic ech...

BACKGROUND Exercise echocardiography (digital cine-loop technique) and 201Tl single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) were performed simultaneously in 292 patients being evaluated for coronary artery disease. METHODS AND RESULTS Pretreadmill and posttreadmill echocardiographic images of diagnostic quality were obtained in 289 patients, and the left ventricle was divided into anterio...

Rodent monitoring in biomedical laboratories is a time consuming and tedious task. Several automatic solutions that rely on different types of sensors have been proposed. Computer vision provides a significantly more universal and less intrusive solution. In this article we propose a new method to detect and classify three behaviors in rodents: Exploring, Rearing, and Static. The method uses Mo...

BACKGROUND Shunt vessels were imaged and shunt flow was analysed by cross sectional and Doppler echocardiography in 12 patients who had had 14 shunt procedures (nine left Blalock-Taussig shunts, three right Blalock-Taussig shunts, one modified Waterston shunt, and one central shunt). METHODS The shunt vessels were classified by echocardiography as uniformly patent, segmentally stenosed, and u...

Background: Left ventricular torsion is one of the most important biomechanical parameters of heart that routinely is measured in short axis view.  A review of the literature has indicated that assessment of left ventricular torsion in short axis view has some limitations. In the present study, we evaluated whether torsion angle assessment in long axis view can be used as a diagnostic biomechan...