Patent ID: 8520917

Claim:
A method for automatically determining a rest phase of a heart of an examination subject in an imaging device, comprising the steps of: with said imaging device, acquiring a plurality of successive images of the heart, each from the same, single image perspective, during a cardiac cycle; supplying said plurality of images to a processor and, in said processor, automatically determining the rest phase of the heart by post-processing the plurality of images in said processor; and in said post-processing of said plurality of images in said processor, automatically determining the rest phase of the heart by determining whether a spatial position of a ventricle boundary of the heart remains substantially constant in said plurality of images over time by analyzing a one-dimensional signal intensity cross-section through each of said plurality of images over time, each cross-section containing said ventricle boundary and each cross-section being oriented so that a position coinciding with the center of the heart is substantially constant therein, and by determining whether the position of said ventricle boundary remains substantially constant in said cross-section over time, and identifying respective images in said plurality of images in which the ventricle boundary is substantially constant in said cross-section over time as being images acquired during the rest phase of the heart.