An Automated Method for the Measurement of Ventricular Volume

Several important indices of myocardial performance depend upon accurate and frequent measurement of ventricular volume. Studies employing such measurements have been limited because of the difficulty of manually measuring and calculating volumes frequently enough to obtain meaningful data. We, therefore, have developed an automated method for determination of ventricular volume in man. Left ventricular cineangiograms taken in the right anterior oblique position at 60 frames/sec are projected with a flickerless projector onto a Plumbicon television camera. A second television camera is used by a skilled operator for masking out noncontributory portions of the film and for shading selected areas to facilitate accurate recognition of the opacified chamber. An electronic video-tracking device then simultaneously determines the area and the maximum length of the opacified chamber in each cine frame. These data are recorded as analog signals on magnetic tape. Volumes are calculated by computer and plotted against time. When volumes determined by this automated method are compared with those obtained by manual planimetry, the correlation coefficient is 0.96. Aluminum prolate spheroids, left ventricular casts, and left ventricular cineangiograms were studied. This automated technic permits rapid and accurate measurement of ventricular volume in patients having diagnostic left ventriculograms.