Left ventricle evaluation by digital video subtraction angiocardiography.

The usefulness of digital video subtraction angiocardiography (DVSA) using the time-interval difference (TID) mode for measuring ejection fraction and wall motion of the left ventricle was assessed in 20 patients after intravenous injection of contrast material. These 20 cases represented the TID examinations with the best image quality, and were selected from a total of 70 TID examinations. Images were obtained using a prototype digital vascular imaging unit. Conventional left ventriculography was also performed. A good correlation was found between the two methods in determining the ejection fraction (0.81) and the motion of the anterior wall and apex (0.89). The correlation was not as good for determining the movement of the inferior ventricular wall (0.62). This was due to the difficulty of separating the inferior ventricular wall from the left hemidiaphragm.