Early detection of cardiovascular diseases has been a very active research area in the field of medical imaging. The objective of this project is to develop a technique, myocardial elastography, for early detection of cardiovascular disease through measurements of the altered mechanical properties of the heart muscle. Myocardial elastography is designed for measurement of displacement and strain based on natural contraction of the myocardium.
A theoretical framework has been developed to fundamentally characterize the performance of myocardial elastography and to identify the optimal parameters to be used for the more reliable detection of ischemia or infarction. In this simulation study, finite-element (FE) left-ventricular models serve as gold standards. Our current study focuses on verifying the myocardial elastography technique in a clinical setting using MRI tagging.