Comparison of Emory and Cedars-Sinai methods for assessment of left ventricular function from gated myocardial perfusion SPECT in patients with a small heart

To evaluate the effect of left ventricular (LV) size on the calculation of LV function from gated myocardial SPECT with Emery and Cedars-Sinai program s, we performed Tc-99m-tetrofosmin gated SPECT on 49 patients with ischemic heart disease. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), and ejection fraction (EF) were semi-automatically calculated by each program. All patients underwent left ventriculography (LVG) within 3 months before a nd after the SPECT study. We grouped the patients into 22 with a calculated ESV obtained from LVG of over 50 mi (group a) and 27 with an ESV value of 50 mi or below (group B). We then compared the ESV values from fated SPECT with those from LVG in each group. In group A, the ESV from both Emery and Cedars-Sinai programs similarly correlated well with those from LVG (r = 0. 92 and r = 0.93, respectively), hut in group B, the ESV calculated from the Cedars-Sinai program correlated less with those from LVG (r = 0.53) than t hose from the Emery program did (r = 0.70). The calculated LV volumes had m ore errors in the Cedars-Sinai program than in the Emery program, when a pa tient had a small heart.