The automatic identification of hibernating myocardium

Abstract

Delayed enhancement imaging is a recently described technique that enables for the first time, the direct observation of areas of myocardium that have scarred following infarction. When this information is combined with information about myocardial contraction, areas that are neither dead, nor contracting can be identified. Such areas will resume contraction following revascularisation (hibernating myocardium). The identification of such areas is consequently of great interest to clinicians. This paper describes how registration can be used to align the images prior to the identification of areas that will benefit from revascularisation. Patient data is used to demonstrate image alignment and image-derived information combination. This is then mapped onto patient-specific 2D and 3D representations of the heart. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004.