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Estimation of Left Ventricular Mass in Normal and Infarcted Canine Hearts Using Thallium-201 SPECT

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine and the Division of Nuclear Medicine, Radiology Department, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Kenneth A. Narahara, MD, Div. of Cardiology, Bldg. F-9, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 1000 West Carson St., Torrance, CA 90509.

ABSTRACT

A new automated edge detection program has been developed to estimate left ventricular mass from single photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) ²⁰¹Tl images and 14 dogs were studied. Six of the 14 dogs underwent imaging before and 5 hr after coronary artery occlusion with a closed-chest technique. True left ventricular mass was determined at time of killing within 1 hr of the last ²⁰¹Tl study. Left ventricular mass determined by tomography correlated well with autopsy left ventricular mass (r = 0.94; p < 0.001, s.e.e. = 5.9 g) over a range of 62–156 g. The intraobserver variation between repeated measurements of the same SPECT study yielded an r = 0.99; p < 0.0001; s.e.e. - 2.3 g. The reproducibility of the mass determination was assessed in four animals with two studies performed 10-14 days apart. The estimate of left ventricular mass from the two studies were highly correlated (r = 0.98; p < 0.001) with a mean absolute difference of 4 g (3.3%). In the six dogs with a control and postinfarct study the mean total left ventricular mass by ²⁰¹Tl tomography varied by <3.8% (r = 0.89; p < 0.001). In conclusion, tomographic imaging with ²⁰¹Tl can define left ventricular mass accurately and reproducibly in the dog model. The ability of this ²⁰¹Tl tomographic left ventricular mass program to measure both normal and infarcted tissue accurately suggests the possibility of (a) documenting interventions designed to alter left ventricular mass and (b) of sizing acute infarcts and assessing interventions that may alter acute infarct size.