Nonlinear multiscale analysis of three-dimensional echocardiographic sequences.

We introduce a new model for multiscale analysis of space-time echocardiographic sequences. The proposed nonlinear partial differential equation, representing the multiscale analysis, filters the sequence while keeping the space-time coherent structures. It combines the ideas of regularized Perona-Malik anisotropic diffusion and the Galilean invariant movie multiscale analysis of Alvarez, Guichard, Lions and Morel. A numerical method for solving the proposed partial differential equation is suggested and its stability is shown. Computational results on synthesized and real sequences are provided. A qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the accuracy of the method is presented.