The objectives of the following research were to evaluate the utility of a deformable image registration technique known as hyperelastic warping for the measurement of local strains in the left ventricle through the analysis of clinical, gated PET image datasets. Two normal human male subjects were sequentially imaged with PET and tagged MRI imaging. Strain predictions were made for systolic contraction using warping analyses of the PET images and HARP based strain analyses of the MRI images. Coefficient of determination values were computed for the comparison of circumferential and radial strain predictions produced by each methodology. There was good correspondence between the methodologies, with values of 0.78 for the radial strains of both hearts and from an and for the circumferential strains. The strain predictions were not statistically different . A series of sensitivity results indicated that the methodology was relatively insensitive to alterations in image intensity, random image noise, and alterations in fiber structure. This study demonstrated that warping was able to provide strain predictions of systolic contraction of the LV consistent with those provided by tagged MRI Warping. 1. Introduction Diagnostic imaging technologies play a vital role in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with heart failure, cardiac ischemia, and infarction. The assessment of regional left ventricular (LV) function is currently used as a major diagnostic and prognostic indicator in patients with cardiovascular disease [1–4]. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are commonly used for evaluation of cardiovascular disease and can allow for not only evaluation of perfusion, but with gated acquisitions these nuclear images can also be used to evaluate global cardiac function measures like ejection fraction (EF) and regional function measures such as wall motion and myocardial wall thickening. Local wall motion and thickening remain the most common methods used for evaluation of LV regional wall function in the clinical setting. They are, however, indirect measures of cardiac function. Deformation in the form of wall strain represents a direct measurement of tissue elongation and contraction. These measures provide more information on the functional health of cardiac tissue than regional wall motion [5–8], allowing for earlier and more exact diagnoses to be made. There has been growing interest in the use of deformable image registration methods for automated segmentation [9, 10] and deformation
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