Automated ejection fraction determination from gated myocardial FDG-PET data

Background, The aim of this study was to determine the potential of the aut omated calculation of the left ventricular ejection fraction from gated myo cardial positron emission tomography(PET)scans. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 20 patients who under,vent both gated fluorine 18 deoxyglucose (FDG)-PET and equilibrium radionuclide angiography (ERNA), Gated PET data were analyzed by 2 independent programs (ie, quantitative gated single photon emission computed tomography [QGS]) originally developed for gated single photon emission computed tomography s tudies and functional polarmap (FPM) originally developed for the analysis of (functional) dynamic PET studies. ERNA data were used as the gold standa rd. Results. Both QGS and FPM left ventricular ejection fraction results correl ated highly with ERNA (y = 0.90 x x-5.9, r = 0.86, P < .0001; y = 0.80 x x3.3, r = 0.84, P < .0001, respectively). The correlation between FPM and QG S left ventricular ejection fraction results was even higher (y = 0.89 x x8.6, r = 0.97, P < .0001). Bland-Altman plots showed systematic differences ill the left ventricular ejection fraction of -9.6% +/- 7.5% (QGS vs ERNA) , -3.8% +/- 7.8% (FPM vs ERNA), and -5.8% +/- 3.5% (QGS vs FPM). Further co mparison of the left ventricular volumes revealed systematic difference bet ween QGS and FPM. Our results indicate that the correlation between the dif ferent left ventricular ejection fractions shows little sensitivity to erro rs in the left ventricular volumes; however, the exact relationship is infl uenced by these errors. Conclusion, It is concluded that the automated determination of the left ve ntricular ejection fraction from gated PET data has significant potential; its results are highly and significantly correlated with ERNA, However, the methods presented here require additional calibration before final accurac y and clinical applicability can be determined.