An open-source medical image processing and visualization tool to analyze cardiac SPECT images

Abstract

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography is a nuclear imaging technique based on measuring the spatial distribution of a radionuclide. One challenge here is the efficient presentation of information, since one single study can generate hundreds of image slices, whose individual examination would be too time consuming. In this paper, we present an open-source medical image processing and visualization tool to analyze cardiac images. The main features of the tool are: 1) an intuitive interface to select and to visualize any slice in different views from a series of spatial and temporal images; 2) a semi-automatic procedure to segment the left ventricle from other structures; 3) an implementation of the polar map visualization (Bull's eye diagram) that follows recommendations from the American Heart Association. The proposed tool was applied in simulated images generated by a mathematical phantom and in real images. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.