Automated quantification in tissue Doppler imaging

Tissue Doppler mapping is an emerging Color Doppler imaging technology, which measures and displays the velocity of moving tissue such as the myocardium. Several clinical studies have shown that the ability to accurately measure myocardial velocity may prove a valuable diagnostic tool in characterizing regional heart function. To address these measurement needs, a quantification technique has been developed which combines grayscale edge detection with Doppler tracking to automatically trace the myocardial structures of interest on the M-mode image throughout the cardiac cycle. These traces are then used to obtain accurate velocity waveforms such as the mean velocity and velocity gradient waveforms within the myocardium. This paper provides an algorithmic description of the automated quantification technique, and presents an overview of some of the clinical results obtained so far.