Analysis of 4D myocardial wall motion during early stages of chick heart development.

4D myocardial wall motion analysis (3D structure over time) during early embryonic stages of chick heart development provides a comprehensive view to characterize the biomechanical environment of cardiac growth. Myocardial wall strains, velocity, and area shortening over the cardiac cycle are common wall motion assessments and can be accurately measured from 4D datasets. Here, we describe how to employ a variety of image modalities (optical, ultrasound, and optical coherence tomography imaging) and analysis techniques to extract quantitative measures of myocardial wall motion.