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FIGURE 7. Illustration of difference between stacked slices and true 3D calculation of MCA. In stacked slices' analysis, the MCA (MCAslices) is calculated as the length of the midmyocardial contour on 2D images, as illustrated on left-hand side, multiplied by slice thickness (d). As illustrated on right-hand side, 3D calculation of MCA (MCA3D) of LV locally differs from MCAslices depending on myocardial curvature perpendicular to slice orientation. The relationship between d and the real extension of the midmyocardial contour in the through-plane direction (L) depends on the angle (
) enclosed by the through-plane curvature and the sectioned slice. Midventricular contour is approximated by a piecewise linear line to demonstrate this effect.
