Assessment of Left Atrium Motion Deformation Through Full Cardiac Cycle

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel 4D registration framework combining segmentation and registration networks to analyze left atrium motion throughout the cardiac cycle using high-resolution 3D Cine MR images, addressing unique LA challenges.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive technical workflow for automatic LA motion analysis with integrated segmentation and 4D registration networks.

Findings

Potential to provide new regional biomarkers for LA motion

End-to-end framework demonstrates clinical relevance

Accurate LA displacement vector fields extraction

Abstract

Unlike Right Atrium (RA), Left Atrium (LA) presents distinctive challenges, including much thinner myocardial walls, complex and irregular morphology, as well as diversity in individual's structure, making off-the-shelf methods designed for the Left Ventricle (LV) may not work in the context of the left atrium. To overcome aforementioned challenges, we are the first to present comprehensive technical workflow designed for 4D registration modeling to automatically analyze LA motion using high-resolution 3D Cine MR images. We integrate segmentation network and 4D registration process to precisely delineate LA segmentation throughout the full cardiac cycle. Additionally, an image 4D registration network is employed to extract LA displacement vector fields (DVFs). Our findings show the potential of proposed end to end framework in providing clinicians with novel regional biomarkers for left atrium motion tracking and deformation, carrying significant clinical implications.