Chapter 09 Anterior leaflet Systolic Shape Invariance

Leaflet shape change in each heart was quantified by fitting (as described in Appendix C) a best-fit plane to all anterior leaflet markers for each frame (f) in the three consecutive beats studied. The distance (Z) from each anterior leaflet marker (m) to this plane in each frame Z(f,m) was then obtained. A systolic average, Zavg(m), was then obtained for each leaflet marker using all frames from mitral valve closing (MVC) to opening (MVO) for all three beats. For each frame, and each marker, the difference Z(f,m)-Zavg(m) was then computed and squared. The square root of the mean of these differences for all markers was then obtained for each frame as Zrms(f).