Semiautomatic detection of myocardial contours in order to investigate normal values of the left ventricular trabeculated mass using MRI

Purpose To propose, assess, and validate a semiautomatic method allowing rapid and reproducible measurement of trabeculated and compacted left ventricular (LV) masses from cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods We developed a method to automatically detect noncompacted, endocardial, and epicardial contours. Papillary muscles were segmented using semiautomatic thresholding and were included in the compacted mass. Blood was removed from trabeculae using the same threshold tool. Trabeculated, compacted masses and ratio of noncompacted to compacted (NC:C) masses were computed. Preclinical validation was performed on four transgenic mice with hypertrabeculation of the LV…