Quantitation of left ventricular wall motion in normal subjects: comparison of various methods.

Computer-assisted analysis of percent change in the square root of area in each of 12 consecutive 30-degree, pie-shaped ventricular segments was obtained in 48 normal subjects who underwent cardiac catheterization and left ventriculography. The information obtained permitted establishment of objective confidence limits for normal left ventricular regional wall motion. As an index of dynamic changes in segmental wall motion, the percent change in the square root of area method compared favorably with existing radius, area, hemichord, and chord methods. It also possessed a variety of theoretical advantages over these techniques: 1) large numbers of points were analyzed, 2) wall motion disorders in all areas except base were evaluated, 3) taking the square root of area's percent change provided both area information with least splay and an average measure of radius.