Abstract
The formation of the echocardiographic signal, that goes from the transducer to the 2D echo image, was simulated upon a 3D cardiac tissue image. Images of tissue are obtained by mathematical simulation, and a series of histological slices of cardiac tissue. These slices were observed using an optical microscope at a calibration of 10 microns per pixel. Slices are corrected for translation and rotation errors in order to obtain the 3D reconstruction. Cardiac contraction dynamics are simulated with a simple three-transformation model Transducers are simulated with a cosine-moduled Gaussian three-dimensional spread function. The system outputs two signals: a radio-frequency image and an echocardiographic image. Texture features are analyzed as a function of cardiac dynamics. Results' analysis shows the influence of the cellular and connective components of cardiac tissue in the echocardiographic response.