The Cardiac Atlas Project--An Imaging Database for Computational Modeling and Statistical Atlases of the Heart

Authors

Carissa G. Fonseca
Michael Backhaus
David A. Bluemke
Randall D. Britten
Jae Do Chung
Brett R. Cowan
Alan H. Kadish, Touro CollegeFollow

Additional Author Affiliation

New York Medical College

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

MOTIVATION: Integrative mathematical and statistical models of cardiac anatomy and physiology can play a vital role in understanding cardiac disease phenotype and planning therapeutic strategies. However, the accuracy and predictive power of such models is dependent upon the breadth and depth of noninvasive imaging datasets. The Cardiac Atlas Project (CAP) has established a large-scale database of cardiac imaging examinations and associated clinical data in order to develop a shareable, web-accessible, structural and functional atlas of the normal and pathological heart for clinical, research and educational purposes. A goal of CAP is to facilitate collaborative statistical analysis of regional heart shape and wall motion and characterize cardiac function among and within population groups.

RESULTS: Three main open-source software components were developed: (i) a database with web-interface; (ii) a modeling client for 3D + time visualization and parametric description of shape and motion; and (iii) open data formats for semantic characterization of models and annotations. The database was implemented using a three-tier architecture utilizing MySQL, JBoss and Dcm4chee, in compliance with the DICOM standard to provide compatibility with existing clinical networks and devices. Parts of Dcm4chee were extended to access image specific attributes as search parameters. To date, approximately 3000 de-identified cardiac imaging examinations are available in the database. All software components developed by the CAP are open source and are freely available under the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1 (http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1.txt).

Comments

Please see the work itself for the complete list of authors.

Recommended Citation

Fonseca, C. G., Backhaus, M., Bluemke, D. A., Britten, R. D., Chung, J. D., Cowan, B. R., . . . Kadish, A. H. (2011). The Cardiac Atlas Project: An imaging database for computational modeling and statistical atlases of the heart. Bioinformatics, 27(16), 2288-2295.

Publisher's Statement

Originally published in Bioinformatics, 27(16), 2288-2295. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.5. The original material can be found here.