Computation of 3-D velocity fields from 3-D cine CT images of a human heart

A method of computing the three-dimensional (3-D) velocity field from 3-D cine computer tomographs (CTs) of a beating heart is proposed. Using continuum theory, the authors develop two constraints on the 3-D velocity field generated by a beating heart. With these constraints, the computation of the 3-D velocity field is formulated as an optimization problem and a solution to the optimization problem is developed using the Euler-Lagrange method. The solution is then discretized for computer implementation. The authors present the results for both simulated images and clinical cine CT images of a beating heart.