This allows high-resolution 3D images to be generated with a high level of precision from the images obtained with conventional CMR procedures
Carlos Alberola
The method was developed through technical, experimental, and clinical collaboration under the umbrella of a specific partnership between Valladolid University and the CNIC. Joint lead author Carlos Alberola explained that the technical advances of the method are built on procedures developed in the Image Processing Laboratory at Valladolid University, located in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación. “The first of these advances is a method for interpolating images that preserves topology. This allows high-resolution 3D images to be generated with a high level of precision from the images obtained with conventional CMR procedures. A second advance is a mathematical method for characterizing fibrous tissue formed in the myocardial wall after an infarction. This tool provides a measure of the full 3D morphology of the scar relative to the thickness of the myocardium, a parameter known as transmurality.” The method uses a procedure based on partial differential equations to provide point-wise correspondences between the endocardium and the epicardium. These correspondences allow the definition of multiple indicators of the extent of the infarction.
The experimental arm of the study involved input from the Advanced Development in Arrhythmia Mechanisms and Therapy group at the CNIC, led by Dr. David Filgueiras. This group provided expertise in experimental models of myocardial infarction, essential for validating the methodology. The CNIC laboratory also coordinated the study of the clinical application of the new method, in partnership with a multidisciplinary team of experts in the diagnosis and treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias.
Source: Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares
Source: Healthcare in Europe