Visualization of epicardial coronary arteries from three-dimensional echocardiographic images with microbubble contrast application

• Grant number: 06/01424-5
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2006
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering - Medical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Sergio Shiguemi Furuie
• Grantee: Danilo Meneses Lage
• Home Institution: Instituto do Coração Professor Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (INCOR). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, the main generating non-invasive modalities of medical images, as Magnetic Resonance and Computerized Tomography, still have a high financial cost. Therefore, it is fundamental to develop modalities having lesser cost and relatively equivalent results to facilitate the clinical diagnosis. Thus, the improvement in using micro bubbles contrast in the modality of three-dimensional Echocardiography, which has inferior cost than the others, is an interesting venue to be explored. Therefore, the development of an efficient method of three-dimensional reconstruction of Echocardiographic images may yield to the creation of a new modality for visualization of the coronaries in a simpler form, cheaper and non-invasive, although the Ultra-sound exam is a modality with high noise susceptibility and natural degradation of the image. This development is motivated and supported by "Serviço de Ecocardiografia do InCor - HCFMUSP" and related to the thematic project (FAPESP project 04/07474-9) that aims the characterization and consolidation of the Echocardiography as the evaluator of the coronary anatomy, function and myocardial perfusion. The development and evaluation of this project will use the "Prontuário Eletrônico de Paciente do InCor (PEP InCor)", a base of medical images with findings developed in a previous project of "Serviço de Informática do InCor - HCFMUSP" (Thematic Project FAPESP 97/14206-5), where diverse cases and the team´s experience in medical image processing can be used for developing and testing new approaches. (AU)