Feasibility of rapid and automated importation of 3D echocardiographic left ventricular (LV) geometry into a finite element (FEM) analysis model

In this prospective study TomTec LV Analysis TEE？ Software was used for semi-automatic endocardial border detection, reconstruction, and volume-rendering of the clinical 3D echocardiographic data. A newly developed software program MVCP FemCoGen？, written in Delphi, reformats the TomTec file structures in five patients for use in ABAQUS and allows visualization of regional deformation of the LV.This study demonstrates that a fully automated importation of 3D TEE data into FEM modeling is feasible and can be efficiently accomplished in the operating room.For complete intraoperative 3D LV finite element analysis, three input elements are necessary: 1. time-gaited, reality-based structural information, 2. continuous LV pressure and 3. instantaneous tissue elastance. The first of these elements is now available using the methods presented herein.Intraoperative TEE is currently available in most cardiac surgical operating rooms. In some centers, intraoperative 3D echocardiography is used to evaluate geometry and to plan surgical interventions prior to LV remodeling surgery. However, quantitation of LV geometry is limited to rather imprecise measures such as ejection fraction. Thus the cardiac surgeon has no sophisticated, immediate, quantitative analysis of the preoperative 3D LV geometry. Intraoperative quantitative analysis of the dynamic behavior of the LV might provide optimal information upon which to base precise patient-specific planning of the surgical intervention, as well as to assess the adequacy of the completed surgical repair.Because the LV cannot be realistically described by a symmetric mathematical model, the modern approach consists of using a FEM mesh which approximates LV geometry [1] or whole heart geometry [2].Initial attempts at FEM in the heart have been carried out with 3D segmentation and tracking using sophisticated and expensive cardiac MRI [3]. MRI is impractical in the cardiac surgical operating room and is complicated by the fact that the L