An automated quantification of the transmural myocardial infarct extent using cardiac DE-MR images.

Evaluating myocardial viability is an important prognostic factor in the follow-up of infarctions. Delayed Enhancement magnetic resonance (DE-MR) imaging allows precise delineation of the infarct transmural extent. Visual interpretation is the most commonly used method to assess the myocardial infarction (MI) transmural extent. This study proposes to automate the segmentation of the (DE) images prior to the estimation of the extent of infarcted tissue. Indeed the segmentation of the myocardium was performed using cine contraction images which present a high contrast between cavity and myocardium. After the segmentation, the segmental transmurality is estimated on a conventional five point scale. A head to head comparison was performed between visual and quantitative analysis of infarct transmurality on DE-MR imaging. Results on 921 sub-segments (9 patients) showed an absolute agreement of 80% and a relative agreement (with one point difference) of 97%.