Albiero R, Variola A, Dander B, Buonanno C
Servizio di Cardiologia, Ospedale Civile Maggiore, Verona, Italy.
Comput Biomed Res. 1995 Dec;28(6):433-42.
Left ventricular wall motion abnormalities secondary to stress-induced myocardial ischemia can be detected with difficulty by mentally comparing echocardiographic images sequentially recorded on videotape. Digital stress-echocardiography, a combination of ultrasound imaging and digital archiving technologies, at least partially can overcome this problem: the technique is based on reviewing images at rest and after stress (exercise or pharmacological) side by side in dual- or quad-screen digital format, in a synchronized cine-loop, as if obtained simultaneously. This technique however is presently not widely used, due to the high cost of most commercially available systems. We have developed a digital stress-echo system, which is easy to use and relatively inexpensive, running on a Macintosh II personal computer with 8-bit graphics. The 2-D echocardiographic images recorded on videotape are digitized offline using a video digitizing board. The image can be displayed and analyzed using the public domain NIH image software developed by Wayne Rasband, without loss in image quality and resolution, particularly if using Super-VHS videotape. We have made a macro procedure for the montage in a quad-screen format of four digital recorded echocardiographic cardiac cycles of six frames that takes only a little more time than commercially available systems. In conclusion, the use of a personal computer and low-cost software may help to make digital stress-echo techniques more widely feasible in the clinical setting and increase the diagnostic power of the ultrasound technique in the evaluation of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease.
通过在脑海中依次比较录像带上连续记录的超声心动图图像，很难检测出由应激性心肌缺血继发的左心室壁运动异常。数字应力超声心动图是超声成像和数字存档技术的结合，至少可以部分克服这一问题：该技术基于以双屏或四屏数字格式，在同步电影循环中并排查看静息和应激（运动或药物）后的图像，就好像是同时获得的一样。然而，由于大多数商用系统成本高昂，该技术目前尚未广泛应用。我们开发了一种数字应力回声系统，它易于使用且相对便宜，运行在具有8位图形的Macintosh II个人计算机上。录像带上记录的二维超声心动图图像使用视频数字化板进行离线数字化。可以使用Wayne Rasband开发的公共领域NIH图像软件来显示和分析图像，而不会损失图像质量和分辨率，特别是如果使用超级VHS录像带的话。我们已经制作了一个宏程序，用于以四屏格式拼接四个数字记录的六个帧的超声心动图心动周期，这只比商用系统多花一点时间。总之，使用个人计算机和低成本软件可能有助于使数字应力回声技术在临床环境中更广泛地可行，并提高超声技术在评估已知或疑似冠状动脉疾病患者中的诊断能力。
