HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH RSS TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JNM Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nishimura, Y. Articles by Murase, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nishimura, Y. Articles by Murase, K.

Superimposed Display of Coronary Artery on Gated Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy

¹ Department of Radiology, National Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Osaka, Japan
² Division of Medical Technology and Science, Department of Medical Physics and Engineering, Course of Health Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Fusion of images of vascular anatomy and of myocardial perfusion images might be helpful for understanding the relationship between ischemia and the responsible vessels. The aim of this study was to develop a simple means of superimposing the images obtained from coronary angiography and gated myocardial perfusion SPECT. Methods: Right and left oblique views from conventional coronary angiography and left ventriculography (LVG) were stored as 512 x 512 x 8-bit digital datasets and combined. We reconstructed images from routine gated myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) by using ^99mTc-tetrofosmin to match the oblique positions between the image from MPI and combined angiographic images. We then generated a 3-dimensional (3D) surface map by using the quantitative gated SPECT (QGS)/quantitative perfusion SPECT (QPS) program. Both the combined angiographic images and the 3D surface map were rescaled and unified by registering the internal landmarks between the 2 images. After subtraction of the LVG image, the coronary angiogram and the 3D surface map were fused into 1 image. All processes were performed with the QGS/QPS program and commercially available graphic software. We applied this method to datasets from a cardiac phantom and from several patients with coronary artery disease. Results: In the phantom study, our technique could obtain a 3D surface map in which the oblique angle was identified as that of radiography and could realize image registration and superimposition of radiography on scintigraphy. The preliminary results from the patients indicated that the markedly stenotic vessels showed good coincidence with the regional myocardial perfusion abnormalities on the unified images. In addition, these images could show the relationship between the coronary artery and regional wall motion in the gated mode. Conclusion: We developed a simple method of superimposing the image of the coronary artery tree on images from gated MPI. The technique yielded useful information about myocardial perfusion and function as well as the supplying coronary artery.

Key Words: coronary angiography • myocardial perfusion • image fusion

Related articles in JNM:

THIS MONTH IN JNM

JNM 2004 45: 8A-9A. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				O. Gaemperli, T. Schepis, I. Valenta, L. Husmann, H. Scheffel, V. Duerst, F. R. Eberli, T. F. Luscher, H. Alkadhi, and P. A. Kaufmann Cardiac Image Fusion from Stand-Alone SPECT and CT: Clinical Experience J. Nucl. Med., May 1, 2007; 48(5): 696 - 703. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]