Determination of right ventricular ejection fraction utilising a radionuclide washout technique

A radionuclide washout technique (WO), for calculation of the right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) which is independent of the exact position of the right ventricular region of interest was evaluated and results compared with first pass (FP) and equilibrium gated blood pool (GBP) values. Regression analysis between RVEF values of 24 patients obtained from FP and WO yielded a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.89, while a slightly poorer correlation coefficient was obtained when FP and GBP were compared (r = 0.79) and between WO and GBP (r = 0.71). No significant difference between RVEF values calculated from the three techniques was found (P less than 0.05) on inter- and intraobserver level. The radionuclide washout technique yields an accurate determination of RVEF without the necessity of outlining the RV accurately.