Computed tomography of the heart by ultrasound.

Computers in Cardiology 1992, pages 17--20, September 1991.

We developed a new echocardiographic transducer that allows acquisition of 50 standard two-dimensional (2D) images at 3.6 degree increments of rotation around its central axis from any acoustic window. To reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) images of the beating heart, an entire cardiac cycle was recorded form each transducer position with automatic ECG-gating. For each frame of the cardiac cycle, the 50 images digitized in cylindrical coordinates were processed to reconstruct a 3D cone of information in cartesian coordinates. From the 3D matrices, 2D images in any plane can be derived or full 3D perspective projections can be visualized. In conclusion we have developed a new echocardiographic system that allows a computed 3D reconstruction of the beating heart without cumbersome external reference systems.