Whole myocardium tracking in 2D-echocardiography in multiple orientations using a motion constrained level-set.

The segmentation and tracking of the myocardium in echocardiographic sequences is an important task for the diagnosis of heart disease. This task is difficult due to the inherent problems of echographic images (i.e.

Elastic image registration versus speckle tracking for 2-D myocardial motion estimation: a direct comparison in vivo.

Despite the availability of multiple solutions for assessing myocardial strain by ultrasound, little is currently known about the relative performance of the different methods. In this study, we sought to contrast two strain estimation techniques directly (speckle tracking and elastic registration) in an in vivo setting by comparing both to a gold standard reference measurement. In five open-chest sheep instrumented with ultrasonic microcrystals, 2-D images were acquired with a GE Vivid7 ultrasound system.