ROBUST CONTRAST FOR AUTO--ANALYSIS OF CARDIAC MRI

描述（改编自申请人摘要）：提交的申请人 显示Tlrho加权和Gd-DTPA增强的初步实验 注射联合收割机大大提高了心脏电影图像的对比度 并使自动化分析的结果更接近人工分析的结果。 分析. 申请人假设这种改善的对比度可以改善 诊断准确性，并使心脏功能的自动分析可靠 足以取代医生密集的，人工分析的多切片， 多相图像 这种替换很重要，因为手动分析 通常不执行。 当他们是，一般只有射血分数 和收缩期增厚。 常规电影图像也可以确定 变化率，这可能对疾病更敏感，但分析 人工图像是如此乏味，这些数据通常被浪费。 的 申请人建议，从他们目前的Tlrho/Gd-DTPA方法开始， 开发高对比度，强大的协议，使用导航回波控制 检查期间正常呼吸的影响，并提供更大的 在更短的时间内覆盖，回波平面成像。 他们提议比较 从传统和改进的图像进行诊断，并比较 使用现有的自动化分析传统和改进的图像， 软件包，自动检测边缘绘制内轮廓， 心外膜轮廓和提取功能指数。 他们会决定 图像质量的哪些方面对于自动分析是最重要的。 与软件开发人员一起，他们将修改和改进 分析程序，充分利用改进的图像对比度。 图像 生成和优化工作将需要模拟脉冲 然后在病人身上测试有希望的序列。 患者 由于冠状动脉疾病导致的心室功能可疑， 心肌病，或终末期肺病，或心脏病或 将对肺移植进行检查，比较常规和 改善图像。 为了测试自动化分析，自动结果将 与相同图像上的手动结果和 重复扫描。 作为参考，手动结果将与重复结果进行比较 手动分析相同的数据和重复扫描。 比较将 包括左心室和右心室中的内膜面积和体积， 射血分数、射血和充盈的峰值速率以及 出现收缩末期、舒张末期和峰值流速。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): The applicants presented preliminary experiments showing Tlrho weighting and enhancement with Gd-DTPA injection combine to improve contrast of cine images of the heart greatly and to bring results of automated analysis closer to results of manual analysis. The applicants hypothesized this improved contrast could improve diagnostic accuracy and make automated analysis of cardiac function reliable enough to replace physician-intensive, manual analysis of multislice, multiphase images. Such replacement is important because manual analyses are not usually performed. When they are, generally only ejection fractions and systolic thickening are estimated. Routine cine images also determine rates of change, which may be more sensitive to disease, but analyzing images manually is so tedious that these data are usually wasted. The applicants proposed, starting from their present, Tlrho/Gd-DTPA method, to develop high-contrast, robust protocols using navigator echoes to control the effect of normal breathing during examination and, to provide greater coverage in less time, echo planar imaging. They proposed to compare diagnoses made from conventional and improved images and to compare automated analyses of conventional and improved images using an existing software package that automatically detects edges to draw endocardial and epicardial contours and to extract functional indices. They would determine which aspects of image quality are most important to automated analysis. With the developers of the software, they would modify and improve the analysis program to exploit improved image contrast fully. The image generation and optimization effort would require simulation of pulse sequences, then testing promising ones on patients. Patients with questionable ventricular function due to coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, or end-stage lung disease or who are candidates for heart or lung transplant would be examined, comparing diagnoses from conventional and improved images. To test automated analyses, automatic results would be compared to manual results on the same images and to automatic results on repeated scans. For reference, manual results would be compared to repeated manual analysis of the same data and of repeat scans. Comparisons would include endocardial areas and volumes in the left and right ventricles, ejection fractions, the peak rates of ejection and filling, and the times at which end systole, end diastole, and the peak flow rates occur.