(Taken from application abstract): Development and clinical testing of a new family of software display techniques for cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data are proposed. These efforts are anticipated to enhance the diagnostic process and facilitate currently challenging decisions on therapy and patient management of children with severe congenital heart disease. In particular, assessment of hypoplastic left and right heart syndromes and univentricular heart require improved visualization and function quantification tools for evaluation and monitoring of severity and functional status. The initial design of the system is largely completed. Design features of the software system are footed on recent improvements in widely available 3-D rendering hardware and on observations made during 11 years of clinical experience with cardiac MRI at the investigation site During the first year of the project a clinically usable prototype can be delivered for testing and user feedback, including a highly streamlined image data pipeline, sophisticated contemporary user interface, and other features essential for extensive clinical evaluation. The proposed dynamic 3-D display technique combines a maximum of anatomical information available in a multi-slice ECG-triggered cine-MRI scan of the heart, by displaying all slice images simultaneously in correct 3-D geometric perspective in dynamic fashion (a cyclic movie of the beating heart). A user can manipulate in real-time the displayed slice objects to improve visualization of regional anatomy, generate reformatted views along cutting planes on-the-fly, and annotate the display for other observers by highlighting 3-D regions of interest. The proposed effort includes (1) development of first prototype using extensive preexisting in-house developed software libraries, (2) clinical evaluation of the technique from the second year of the project onwards, (3) implementation of enhancements including quantitation and display of essential cardiac function parameters including hemodynamic data and follow-up on user feedback, and adding limited DICOM I/O functionality.
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