Optimal 3-dimensional method for right and left ventricular Fourier phase analysis in electrocardiography-gated blood-pool SPECT

Background To overcome some of the limitations imposed by planar imaging, w e aimed to optimize the use of first harmonic Fourier phase analysis (FPA) in electrocardiography-gated blood-pool single photon emission computed tom ography (GBPS) by comparing different quantitative, 3-dimensional methods. Methods and Results. Three groups of patients who underwent GBPS were evalu ated: group 1, 8 patients with no heart disease; group 2, 10 patients with left ventricular disease; and group 3, 6 patients with right ventricular di sease. Six different methods for FPA were compared: surface, cylindrical, s pherical, and hybrid methods with fixed thresholding and spherical and hybr id methods with multiple thresholding, The hybrid method with multiple thre sholding for the left ventricle and the spherical method for the right vent ricle provided the highest discrimination score (phase) between normal and abnormal ventricles. Among methods with similar discrimination score for th ese 2 methods, the cylindrical and hybrid methods for the left ventricle an d the spherical method for the right ventricle provided the best homogeneit y of phase distribution histogram in normal ventricles, These were consider ed the optimal methods for FPA. Conclusions. The hybrid or cylindrical method for the left ventricle and th e spherical method for the right ventricle with fixed thresholding are the optimal methods for FPA in GBPS.