title: New technique for showing the relation of tomographic myocardial perfusion images obtained with thallium-201 to the coronary arteries.
abstract: A new technique has been developed for presenting myocardial tomograms that allows the observer to perceive the shape of the thallium-201 distribution directly. The surface of the myocardium was found by applying an interactive thresholding technique to a set of conventional transverse slices. Computer graphics techniques were used to display a shaded image of that surface on a television screen, showing the three dimensional shape of the myocardial surface from any chosen aspect. A set of normal preserved coronary arteries was digitised, and using scaling and transformation techniques these arteries were mapped on to the myocardial tomograms and a shaded surface image produced with superimposed coronary arteries. This provided a familiar anatomical framework for locating perfusion defects. Its value in identifying various diseased vessels was confirmed by a comparison of the tomographic findings with the angiographic findings in five individual cases.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005082:Physical Exertion; D011868:Radioisotopes; D013793:Thallium; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D013793:Thallium