Quantification of left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction from gated 99mTc-MIBI SPECT: validation of an elastic surface model approach in comparison to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, 4D-MSPECT and QGS.
OBJECTIVE
The segmentation algorithm ESM based on an elastic surface model was validated for the assessment of left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction from ECG-gated myocardial perfusion SPECT. Additionally, it was compared with the commercially available quantification packages 4D-MSPECT and QGS. Cardiac MRI was used as the reference method.


METHODS
SPECT and MRI were performed on 70 consecutive patients with suspected or proven coronary artery disease. End-diastolic (EDV) and end-systolic (ESV) volumes and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were derived from SPECT studies by using the segmentation algorithms ESM, 4D-MSPECT and QGS and from cardiac MRI.


RESULTS
ESM-derived values for EDV and ESV correlated well with those from cardiac MRI (correlation coefficients R=0.90 and R=0.95, respectively), as did the measurements for LVEF (R=0.86). Both EDV and ESV were slightly overestimated for larger ventricles but not for smaller ventricles; LVEF was slightly overestimated irrespective of ventricle size. The above correlation coefficients are comparable to those for the 4D-MSPECT and QGS segmentation algorithms. However, results obtained with the three segmentation algorithms are not interchangeable.


CONCLUSIONS
The ESM algorithm can be used to assess EDV, ESV and LVEF from gated perfusion SPECT images. Overall, the performance was similar to that of 4D-MSPECT and QGS when compared with cardiac MRI. Results obtained with the three tested segmentation methods are not interchangeable, so that the same algorithm should be used for follow-up studies and control subjects.
Stegger
Lars
L
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster, Münster, Germany. stegger@uni-muenster.de
Lipke
Claudia S A
CS
Kies
Peter
P
Nowak
Bernd
B
Schober
Otmar
O
Buell
Udalrich
U
Schäfers
Michael
M
Schaefer
Wolfgang M
WM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D015637:Gated Blood-Pool Imaging; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi