[Cardiac imaging assessment of the left ventricular ejection fraction]

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is the most important measurement of the left ventricular function and the most commonly used parameter in clinical cardiac imaging. LVEF can be measured with different cardiac imaging techniques: left ventricular contrast angiography by catheterization, echocardiography, radionuclide ventriculography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and cardiac computed tomography. In this article, we reviewed the specifics of each of the cardiac imaging modality, their strength and pitfalls. We also compared the consistency and variance between them. The selection of a specific cardiac imaging modality in clinical practice should depend on the indications, local expertise and the historic data of the patient. In general, these cardiac imaging modalities correlate well, but the variance and standard deviation are large so the measurement numbers should not be used interchangeably.