Patent ID: 11915426
Assignee: 3MENSIO MEDICAL IMAGING B.V.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 0:
1. A method for dynamically assessing a heart valve from a sequence of consecutive volumetric image frames of such heart valve, which images are separated in time by a certain time interval and refer to different phases of a heart cycle, the method comprising:
a) identifying the heart valve in at least one image of the sequence;
b) segmenting the heart valve to identify a contour of the heart valve, wherein the contour of the heart valve corresponds to an annulus of the heart valve
c) propagating the contour of the heart valve as identified in b) to other images of the sequence; and
d) performing dynamic analysis of the heart valve based on the contour of the heart valve as propagated in c);
wherein the identification of the contour of the heart valve in b) involves
i) determining a center-lumen line within a ventricle of the heart that is connected to the heart valve by adjusting the center-lumen line towards a center of mass of a ventricle blood pool,
ii) determining an apex point within the ventricle from the center-lumen line of i), and
iii) determining a long axis of the heart from the apex point of ii).