Quantitative Texture Analysis and Transesophageal Echocardiography to Characterize the Acute Myocardial Contusion

Myocardial contusion (MC) is a common injury following blunt chest trauma without any specific symptoms. Several techniques such as electrocardiogram, estimation of myocardial band fraction of creatine phosphokinase, chest radiography and the scintiscanning missed efficiency to characterize the MC. Another technique based on transesophageal echocardiography [TEE] allows to visualize the structures of the heart with a good spatial resolution. We postulated that the quantitative texture analysis of regional image texture in two- dimensional [2D] TEE echocardiograms would be an accurate method to differentiate normal from abnormal myocardial wall. This preliminary experimental study demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed technique.