Discriminating between normal and abnormal left ventricles in echocardiography

A computer program product for discriminating between normal and abnormal left ventricles in echocardiography, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• determine an ultrasound scan sector of an ultrasound image of a heart, the ultrasound scan sector comprising a border defined by a first dominant line, a second dominant line, and a side of the ultrasound image, said first and second dominant lines being within the ultrasound image and intersecting at an intersection point;
• partition the ultrasound scan sector into a plurality of regions by performing clustering on the ultrasound scan sector;
• determine a distance between each partitioned region and the intersection point;
• select a target region of the plurality of regions, said target region having a smallest distance to the intersection point, the target region depicting a chamber shape of a chamber of the heart;
• perform contour tracing on the target region to thereby determine a traced contour and retaining at least a portion of the traced contour overlapping the target region to thereby determine a boundary of the chamber, said boundary depicting the chamber shape;
• compare a predetermined shape to the retained, overlapping boundary, the predetermined shape having been determined without reference to the ultrasound image;
• determine a plurality of parameters that, when applied to the predetermined shape, conforms the predetermined shape to the boundary and minimizes at least one error between the predetermined shape and the boundary, the plurality of parameters comprising a first axis, a second axis, and a distortion parameter;
• and
• determine from the plurality of parameters an indication of normality or abnormality of the chamber shape.