A computer-aided approach for the quantitation of regional left ventricular function using two-dimensional echocardiography.

Quantitation of regional left ventricular function is becoming increasingly important in this era of interventional cardiology. In this article we describe a computer-assisted approach for the assessment of regional left ventricular function that integrates three features. First, it measures left ventricular wall thickening and endocardial motion and curvature during an entire systolic contraction sequence. Second, it allows us to easily define endocardial and epicardial borders without actually having to manually trace the entire border. Third, it displays complex data in a simple format for easy assimilation. We believe that this approach is practical and comprehensive and can be used to quantitate regional left ventricular function with two-dimensional echocardiography.