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Updated: May 18, 2026
In Vivo Quantitative Assessment of Myocardial Structure, Function, Perfusion and Viability Using Cardiac Micro-computed Tomography
Published on: February 16, 2016
Automated assessment of heart chamber volumes and function in patients with previous myocardial infarction using
Andreas Fuchs1, Jørgen Tobias Kühl, Jacob Lønborg
1Department of Cardiology 2012, The Heart Centre, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 9, Copenhagen East DK-2100, Denmark. mck601@alumni.ku.dk
Insights
Automated cardiac MDCT provides fast and reliable assessment of left ventricular, right ventricular, and left atrial volumes and functions. This method shows good agreement with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), suggesting its clinical utility.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
- Radiology
Background:
- Left ventricular (LV), right ventricular (RV), and left atrial (LA) volumes and functions are crucial prognostic indicators in ischemic heart disease.
- Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) offers high spatial resolution, making it a potential optimal tool for assessing cardiac chamber parameters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of automated MDCT for assessing cardiac volumes and functions.
- To compare automated MDCT assessments with those obtained from cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).
Main Methods:
- Fifty-three patients with prior myocardial infarction underwent both 1.5 Tesla CMR and 64-slice MDCT.
- Automated MDCT software and manual CMR software were used to assess end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, stroke volume, and ejection fraction (EF) for LV and RV.
- LV myocardial mass and cyclic LA volume changes were also derived.
Main Results:
- Automated MDCT segmentation was successful in all but two patients.
- Image processing time was significantly shorter with MDCT (11 ± 4 minutes) compared to CMR (21 ± 4 minutes).
- Bland-Altman analysis revealed good agreement between MDCT and CMR for LVEF, RVEF, and LA fractional change, with minimal bias.
Conclusions:
- Automated MDCT enables rapid and reliable evaluation of LV, RV, and LA volumes and functions.
- The findings demonstrate good agreement between automated MDCT and CMR, supporting its use in clinical practice.
- Cardiac chamber assessment using automated MDCT is feasible and accurate in a clinical setting.
Background:
Left ventricular (LV), right ventricular (RV), and left atrial (LA) volumes and functions contain important prognostic information in ischemic heart disease. Because multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) has high spatial resolution, this method may be optimal to obtain this information.
Objective:
We evaluated automated assessment for MDCT, by comparing it with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).
Methods:
Fifty-three patients with previous myocardial infarction were scanned with 1.5 Tesla CMR and 64-slice MDCT. End-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, stroke volume, and ejection fraction (EF) were assessed for the left and right ventricle with automatic MDCT software and manual CMR software. LV myocardial mass and cyclic changes in LA volume were derived.
Results:
The mean age of patients was 61 ± 10 years, 40 (75%) were men. Automated MDCT segmentation was possible in all but 2 patients. The average duration of image processing was 21 ± 4 minutes by CMR and 11 ± 4 minutes by MDCT. Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement between MDCT and CMR with only small bias. LVEF by CMR was 56% ± 10% and by MDCT 61% ± 11%, mean difference of -5% (limits of agreement, -18% to 8%), and P < 0.001. RVEF by CMR was 60% ± 5% and by MDCT 56% ± 8%, mean difference of 5% (limits of agreement, -10% to 20%), and P < 0.001. LA fractional change by CMR was 49% ± 9% and by MDCT 45% ± 9%, mean difference of 4% (limits of agreement, -12% to 20%), and P ≤ 0.001.
Conclusion:
LV, RV, and LA volumes and functions may be evaluated fast and reliably with the use of automated assessment and cardiac MDCT, with good agreement to CMR. Accurate assessment of cardiac chambers with MDCT appears possible in clinical practice.
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