COMPARISON BETWEEN FACTOR-ANALYSIS OF DYNAMIC STRUCTURES AND FOURIER-ANALYSIS IN DETECTION OF SEGMENTAL WALL-MOTION ABNORMALITIES - A CLINICAL-EVALUATION

To evaluate Factor Analysis of Dynamic Structures (FADS) versus or in association with other methods, a protocol was set up including as 'go ld standard' investigation the left ventricular angiography (LVA) and processing by Fourier Analysis (FA), and FADS with different variants. To refine the diagnosis of Regional Wall Motion Abnormalities (RWMA), processing was done on a sectorial basis for more accurate spatial lo calization and functional description. 53 patients were studied (8 nor mal, 45 with coronary artery disease). FADS gave better results than F A on a sectorial basis. Total agreement between FADS and LVA was obtai ned in 208/265 (78%), while FA was in agreement with LVA in only 167/2 65 segments (63%). Globally, FADS was significantly better than FA (Z- test: p < 0.05). When only the diagnosis of maximal abnormality was co nsidered, FA and FADS are statistically equivalent. Tile superiority o f FADS vs FA is more obvious in the diagnosis of hypokinesia. Most FA discrepancies corresponded to underestimation of WMA.