Abstract #1208

Denney T, Li T

Cardiac MR images acquired over multiple breath-holds are often misregistered due to patient motion or inconsistent respiration. This misregistration must be corrected before performing three-dimensional analysis of wall geometry or other parameters. Existing registration methods address the issue of short-axis image registration, but long-axis images are needed to analyze the apex of the heart and can help register short-axis images. A new registration method is presented that uses myocardial contours identified in long-axis images to register short-axis images and short-axis contours to register long-axis images. The method is validated on simulated data and imaging studies from 15 human subjects.