[Clinical applications of factor analysis in nuclear medicine].

Factor analysis allows to break up dynamic radionuclide studies into constituent parts corresponding to individual compartments of the distribution space of the radiopharmaceutical in the body. Compartment structure is reflected by factor image and its dynamics is shown by factor time activity curves. The method overcomes the drawbacks of other data processing methods in dynamic scintigraphy by its objectiveness and by distinguishing the projection overlap of tissues with different dynamics. The demands on both the patient and personnel are the same as in standard procedures, yet this method extracts more information from the results of the examination. Higher diagnostic accuracy was reported especially in nuclear cardiology and nephrology. A short survey of clinical applications of factor analysis reported over the years 1982-1988 is presented.