COMPUTER-ASSISTED MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE HEART

OBJECTIVE To assess the applicability of the image analyzer for morpho metric study of cardiomyopathies. STUDY DESIGN: A computer-assisted me thodology for the morphometric study of ischemic cardiomyopathy, dilat ed cardiomyopathy and right ventricular dysplasia.RESULTS: In each hea rt, 200 nuclear lengths and myocyte diameters, 160 fields for nuclear density, 420 fields for interstitial fibrosis and 350 fields for repla cement fibrosis were evaluated. In ischemic cardiomyopathy, the multip le foci of replacement fibrosis of the myocardium, in addition to inte rstitial fibrosis, appear to be the major cause of ventricular remodel ling. In dilated cardiomyopathy the major pathologic processes are myo cyte cell death and segmental, replacement and interstitial fibrosis. In right ventricular dysplasia the heart develops congestive failure d ue to a conspicuous increase in the volume of the right ventricle with out an appreciable loss of the number of myocytes. CONCLUSION: The tra ditional morphometric methods based on test grids for the study of pat hologic hearts can be enhanced using an image analyzer. In this way on e can study a large area of the myocardium and collect a very large nu mber of data. This may be the method of choice for analyses of patholo gic human hearts.