Three-dimensional surface display in blood pool gated SPECT.

In 14 patients (4 in good health and 10 with coronary heart disease) a blood pool gated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was executed. The transaxial slices of the cardiac blood pool were reconstructed. A three-dimensional surface display was employed for the analysis of the tomographic data. A fixed distance, a fixed threshold (50%), and some different planes of view were employed. The test permitted visualization of the ventricular and the atrial movements in all patients. The right ventricle was clearly seen in the right anterior oblique plane of view. The aortic beating was seen. In normal patients the left ventricle, clearly seen in left anterior oblique plane, shrank to a thin shank. In 4 patients with septum infarct the blood pool was seen to persist in the septum area in front of the lateral wall shrinking (akinesis). The opposite happened in patients with anterolateral wall coronary artery disease. Three-dimensional surface display of blood pool gated SPECT shows a real three-dimensional picture of the dynamic heart and is a new noninvasive approach to the heart patient.