Method and system for characterizing valvular regurgitation/insufficiency from sequences of images

Abstract

Method and systems are provided for characterizing blood flow in an atrioventricular valve of the human heart, the atrioventricular valve connecting an atrium with a corresponding ventricle of the heart, the ventricle being fluidly coupled to a particular vessel that transports blood outside the ventricle blood, which involve obtaining image data of the heart and identifying contours of the atrium and a region within the particular vessel within the image data. A time-density curve for the atrium can be calculated from the contour of the atrium and densitometric image data derived from the image data. A time-density curve for the region of the particular vessel can be calculated from the contour of the vessel region and the densitometric image data. Data that characterizes at least one regurgitation fraction related to the atrioventricular valve can be calculated from such time-density curves.