An improved segmentation algorithm for quantification of myocardial infarction in contrast enhanced CMR images - validated in ex-vivo studies

Background T1-weighted contrast enhanced CMR images of explanted hearts in experimental studies provide a high resolution reference standard for quantification of myocardial infarction. Manual delineation is considered the reference standard, however it is time consuming and observer dependent. Especially since a data set may consist of more than 150 images with a resolution of typically 0.5×0.5×0.5 mm. Previous studies have used an algorithm for infarct quantification based on a fix number of 8 standard deviations (SD) from remote with manual corrections if necessary [1]. This algorithm may fail if images have different contrast to noise ratio, and is time consuming as the user needs to draw regions of interest in each slice. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide a fully automated segmentation algorithm for quantification of myocardial infarction in T1-weighted contrast enhanced high resolution ex-vivo images.