UNLABELLED In order to conduct research relying on ultrasound images, it is necessary to access a large number of relevant cases represented by images and their interpretation. DICOM standard defines the structured reporting information object. Templates are tree-like structures which offer structural guidance in report construction. AIMS Laying the foundations of a structured reporting metho...

In order to utilize both computed tomography (CT) and echocardiography images of the heart for medical applications such as diagnosis and image guided intervention concurrently, non-rigid registration is an essential task. A challenging but important problem in image registration is evaluating the performance of a registration algorithm. The direct quantitative approach is to compare the deform...

Functional echocardiography has become an invaluable tool in the pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit. "Point-of-care," "target," or "focus" echocardiography allows bedside cardiac ultrasound evaluation of the hemodynamic status of the patient, helps in directing treatment, thus improves patients care. In order to be able to perform functional echocardiography, it is essential to understa...

[2] King DL, King DL Jr, Shao MY. Three-dimensional spatial registration and interactive display of position and orientation of realtime ultrasound images. J Ultrasound Med 1990; 9: 525-32. [3] Pandian NG, Roelandt J, Nanda NC et al. Dynamic threedimensional echocardiography: Methods and clinical potential. Echocardiography 1994; 11: 237-59. [4] Marx GR, Fulton DR, Pandian NG et al. Delineation...

In view of the European Association of Echocardiography (EAE) mission statement "To promote excellence in clinical diagnosis, research, technical development, and education in cardiovascular ultrasound in Europe" and the increasing demand for standardization and quality control, the EAE have established recommendations and guidelines for standardization of echocardiography performance, data acq...

Recent developments in three-dimensional echocardiography have made it possible to obtain images in real time, without the need for off-line reconstruction. These developments have enabled the technique to become an important tool for both research and daily clinical practice. A substantial proportion of the studies carried out using three-dimensional echocardiography have focused on the mitral...

This fact becomes especially relevant when anatomical observation translates into prognostic clinical implications, such as in the identification of images of thrombi in the left atrium or left atrial appendage. In most clinical situations, the investigation of intra-atrial images of thrombi with the use of two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography does not allow anatomical information rel...

An efficient compression strategy is indispensable for 3-D digital echocardiography, which can provide more accurate diagnostic information than 2-D echocardiography without geometric assumption, but unfortunately requires a huge storage space. We describe a new set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm that is based on the wavelet packet transform and use it to compress 3-D echo...

AIMS Although two-dimensional-dobutamine stress echocardiography (2D-DSE) is useful for the diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia, it requires the acquisition of multiple cross-sections at each stage. The introduction of new real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) offers rapid acquisition and 3D display of the entire left ventricle (LV). The purpose was to evaluate real-time three-dime...

BACKGROUND Because pulmonary artery size is considered by most investigators to be a major prognosticator of outcome in patients undergoing staged Fontan reconstruction, the objective of the present study was to determine the efficacy of noninvasive measures in determining pulmonary artery size. METHODS AND RESULTS This study analyzed the T1-weighted, spin-echo magnetic resonance and echocard...