Three-dimensional displays of left ventricular epicardial surface from standard cardiac SPECT perfusion quantification techniques.
Two methods for generating left ventricular epicardial surface from SPECT perfusion tomograms are described and validated. Both methods use the locations of the maximal reconstructed count values determined from a perfusion quantification procedure as a basis for generating surfaces.


METHODS
The first method fits circular contours, which are perpendicular to the long-axis, to the points obtained from perfusion quantification. The second method applies median and linear filters to the points to remove noise but maintain the basic shape of the surface. Both models are validated against an automatic technique and against the user-traced surfaces of both the perfusion image and an MR image of the same patient.


RESULTS
The median-filtered model was found to be closer to the standard surfaces than the circular model in all cases, and 85% of the points on the median-filtered surfaces were within one SPECT pixel length of the hand-traced MR surfaces.


CONCLUSIONS
Accurate, three-dimensional left ventricular epicardial surfaces can be generated quickly and easily from already existing perfusion quantification software. The resulting images may be useful for realistic displays of ventricular size, shape and the three-dimensional distribution of perfusion.
Faber
T L
TL
Department of Radiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
Cooke
C D
CD
Peifer
J W
JW
Pettigrew
R I
RI
Vansant
J P
JP
Leyendecker
J R
JR
Garcia
E V
EV
D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010496:Pericardium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*
D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi