An Image Processing System for Cardiovascular Wall Motion Studies

摘要

Obtaining data from ventricular and coronary angiograms has largely been limited in the past to visualizing and manually outlining film frames. Methods of manipulating the picture data itself and interacting with the picture in digital (numeric) form have been unavailable, except in the case of nuclear (gamma) imaging systems.We have developed, in cooperation with a local company, a computer-based graphics system to obtain quantitative data directly from cardiovascular images. This modular system extends our ability to process picture data to all types of cardiovascular images.The video display system currently displays 6 bits of gray scale (8 bits maximum) and permits color mapping of gray levels. A variety of graphics functions such as zoom and pan are implemented in the hardware.The hardware system is now operational and program development is underway. The first data being analyzed is that from tantulum intramyocardial markers and contrast angiograms.