Automated processing of first-pass radionuclide angiocardiography by factor analysis of dynamic structures

A method for automatic processing of cardiac first-pass radionuclide study is presented. This technique, factor analysis of dynamic structures (FADS) provides an automatic separation of anatomical structures according to their different temporal behaviour, even if they are superimposed. FADS has been applied to 76 studies. A description of factor patterns obtained in various pathological categories is presented. FADS provides easy diagnosis of shunts and tricuspid insufficiency. Quantitative information derived from the factors (cardiac output and mean transit time) were compared to those obtained by the region of interest method. Using FADS, a higher correlation with cardiac catheterization was found for cardiac output calculation. Thus compared to the ROI method, FADS presents obvious advantages: a good separation of overlapping cardiac chambers is obtained; this operator independant method provides more objective and reproducible results. A number of parameters of the cardio-pulmonary function can be assessed by first-pass radionuclide angiocardiography (RNA) [1,2]. Usually, they are calculated using time-activity curves (TAC) from regions of interest (ROI) drawn on the cardiac chambers and the lungs. This method has two main drawbacks: (1) the lack of inter and intra-observers reproducibility; (2) the problem of crosstalk which affects the evaluation of the cardio-pulmonary performance. The crosstalk on planar imaging is due to anatomical superimposition of the cardiac chambers and lungs. The activity measured in any ROI is the sum of the activity in several organs and 'decontamination' of the TAC cannot easily be performed using the ROI method [3]. Factor analysis of dynamic structures (FADS) [4,5] can solve the two problems mentioned above. It provides an automatic separation of anatomical structures according to their different temporal behaviour, even if they are superimposed. The resulting factors are estimates of the time evolution of the activity in each structure (underlying physiological components), and the associated factor images are estimates of the spatial distribution of each factor. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of FADS in first pass RNA and compare the results to those obtained by the ROI method which is generally considered as the routine procedure.