In this paper

a novel method based on generalized gradient vector flow (GGVF) Snake model is proposed for segmentation of the left ventricle cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images. Firstly

an edge-based directional generalized gradient vector flow (EDGGVF) Snake model is proposed as an improvement to GGVF

which differentiates cardiac endocardium and epicardium into positive and negative boundaries by incorporating the gradient orientation information of the images edge map. In addition

a circle-shape based energy for the Snake model is adopted considering the shape of the left ventricle. With this energy

the Snake contour can overcome the unexpected local minimum stemming from image inhomogeneity and papillary muscle. Experimental results show the method is able to segment LV endocardium and epicardium accurately and effectively.