In vitro computed tomography of the human heart

In vitro computed tomography (CT) was performed on nine human hearts. Mean attenuation coefficients from a 2.5 X 2.5-cm area of the left ventricular wall were determined from a 160 X 160 computer printout before and after formalin fixation in five hearts. These values averaged 27.1 and 24.7 units, respectively (p less than 0.05). The absorption characteristics of normal human myocardium do not differ from those observed in animals and the potential of CT application to ischemic heart disease can be assessed by this mehtodology applied to postmortem hearts of patients with myocardial infarction of varying duration.