Adaptive Color Gain for Vena Contracta Quantification in Valvular Regurgitation

Pawel Kozlowski; Alfonso Rodriguez-Molares; Thor Andreas Tangen; Kjell Kristoffersen; Hans Torp; Olivier Gerard; Eigil Samset

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2018.04.002

Adaptive Color Gain for Vena Contracta Quantification in Valvular Regurgitation

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2018 Aug;44(8):1770-1777. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2018.04.002. Epub 2018 May 18.

Authors

Pawel Kozlowski¹, Alfonso Rodriguez-Molares², Thor Andreas Tangen³, Kjell Kristoffersen³, Hans Torp², Olivier Gerard³, Eigil Samset⁴

Affiliations

¹ GE Vingmed Ultrasound, Oslo, Norway; Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: pawel.kozlowski@outlook.com.
² Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
³ GE Vingmed Ultrasound, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ GE Vingmed Ultrasound, Oslo, Norway; Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Cardiology, Center for Cardiological Innovation, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Norway.

PMID: 29779888
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2018.04.002

Abstract

Severe valvular regurgitation can lead to pulmonary hypertension, atrial fibrillation and heart failure. Vena contracta width is used to estimate the severity of the regurgitation. Parameters affecting visualization of color Doppler have a significant impact on the measurement. We propose a data-driven method for automated adjustment of color gain based on the peak power of the color Doppler signal in the vicinity of the vena contracta. A linear regression model trained on the peak power was used to predict the orifice diameter. According to our study, the color gain should be set to about 6 dB above where color Doppler data completely disappears from the image. Based on our method, orifices with reference diameters of 4, 6.5 and 8.5 mm were estimated with relative diameter errors within 18%, 12% and 14%, respectively.

Keywords: Color Doppler echocardiography; Digital signal processing; Echocardiography; Heart valve diseases.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Echocardiography, Doppler, Color / methods*
Heart Ventricles / diagnostic imaging*
Heart Ventricles / physiopathology*
Mitral Valve Insufficiency / diagnostic imaging*
Mitral Valve Insufficiency / physiopathology*
Phantoms, Imaging
Reproducibility of Results
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted*