A realistic anthropomorphic numerical model of the beating heart

Abstract

A realistic anthropomorphic numerical model of the beating heart is presented. It includes the main cardiac anatomical structures, vessels junctions and part of the coronary network. Its main feature is that it is based on an imaging study on the same human subject from which both structural and motion information are retrieved. This confers to the model a remarkable consistency. Heart's deformation is assessed through successive 3D non rigid registrations in cine MR sequences. The resulting model can be used for the evaluation of cardiac image processing algorithms such as myocardium segmentation and cardiac image registration. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.