Detection of postinfarction left ventricular aneurysms by first pass radionuclide ventriculography using a multicrystal gamma camera.

Eighteen patients with a history of previous anterior myocardial infarction and suspected left ventricular aneurysms were studied both by contrast left ventriculography and by first pass radionuclide ventriculography using Technetium99m and a computerised multicrystal gamma camera. The radionuclide study successfully identified all 14 patients with aneurysms and all 4 with diffusely hypo-kinetic ventricles. Ejection fraction calculated from the change in radioactive counts in the left ventricle correlated well with that calculated from the area-length method from the contrast angiogram (r = 0.83). Ventricular volumes calculated from the area-length formula for both contrast and radionuclide angiograms correlated closely (r = 0.85 and r = 0.89 for end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes, respectively). In the patients with aneurysms, there was a close correlation between the extent of akinesis, as assessed by the two methods (r = 0.94). The ability of the radionuclide ventriculogram to provide accurate information on global and segmental ventricular function, and to differentiate between segmental and diffuse ventricular dysfunction, enables the method to act as a screening procedure in the investigation of patients with suspected left ventricular aneurysms.