Iterated Residual Graph Convolutional Neural Network for Personalized Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Left Myocardium from Cardiac MR Images

Abstract

Three-dimensional reconstruction of the left myocardium is of great significance for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac diseases. This paper proposes a personalized 3D reconstruction algorithm for the left myocardium using cardiac MR images by incorporating a residual graph convolutional neural network. The accuracy of the mesh, reconstructed using the model-based algorithm, is largely affected by the similarity between the target object and the average model. The initial triangular mesh is obtained directly from the segmentation result of the left myocardium. The mesh is then deformed using an iterated residual graph convolutional neural network. A vertex feature learning module is also built to assist the mesh deformation by adopting an encoder–decoder neural network to represent the skeleton of the left myocardium at different receptive fields. In this way, the shape and local relationships of the left myocardium are used to guide the mesh deformation. Qualitative and quantitative comparative experiments were conducted on cardiac MR images, and the results verified the rationale and competitiveness of the proposed method compared to related state-of-the-art approaches.

Keywords

• 3D reconstruction of the left myocardium
• residual graph convolutional neural network
• triangular mesh
• point cloud