The cardiac atlas project: Preliminary description of heart shape in patients with myocardial infarction

Abstract

The Cardiac Atlas Project seeks to establish a standardized database of cardiovascular imaging examinations, together with derived analyses, for the purposes of statistical characterization of global and regional heart function abnormalities. We present preliminary results from a subset of cases contributed from the Defibrillators to Reduce Risk by Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation (DETERMINE) study of patients with myocardial infarction. Finite element models were fitted to the epicardial and endocardial surfaces throughout the cardiac cycle in 200 patients using a standardized procedure. The control points of the shape model were used in a principal component analysis of shape and motion. The modes were associated with well-known clinical indices of adverse remodeling in heart disease, including heart size, sphericity and mitral valve geometry. These results therefore show promise for the clinical application of a statistical analysis of shape and motion in patients with myocardial infarction.