[Analysis of usefulness for quantitative methods determining segmental mobility in assessing contrast...

The aim of this study was to compare two different quantitative methods used to determine left ventricular regional wall motions. Circumferential and radial methods were used to distinguish between normo- and hypokinesia of the 5 segments proposed by AHA for RAO position. One hundred ventriculograms were analyzed. Fifty cases with normal wall motion and ejection fraction greater than 55% were chosen as a base to enumerate normokinetic values of regional contractility. The other fifty cases represented hypokinesia of different segments. Respective values for the radial method were 61.42 vs 38.10 for antero-basal segment, 73.8 vs 58.5 for antero-lateral segment, 67.74 vs 42.5 for apical segment, 69.88 vs 47.70 for postero-lateral segment and 41.72 vs 33.4 for postero-lateral segment. The values obtained with the circumferential method were 12.27 vs 10.21, 20.06 vs 16.21, 22.19 vs 18.78, 17.08 vs 11.39 and 8.50 vs 8.15, respectively. These results suggest that the radical method allows to better differentiate between hypo- and normokinesia. Postero-basal segment proved to be most difficult to assess. Both methods fail to make a clear distinction in these cases.